Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?
by GleeGeneration23
Summary: AU from Begging on Your Knees episode-Ryder Daniels was not going quietly and his actions have long lasting effects on the Victorious gang especially one member for the rest of their lives. Will the group crumble or get stronger? TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE AND RAPE. RATED M. Main Pairings, Andre/Tori, Jade/Beck, Robbie/Cat, some Trina/OC-NOW COMPLETE
1. Prolouge

**Hi, so here is the second story for the Victorious fandom. This story will be thirty chapters long or so I planned and is the hardest story I have ever written but for reasons I wanted to write it.**

 **This story contains TRIGGER WARNINGS, FOR OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE AND RAPE. IF THIS OFFENDS YOU THEN THAT'S FINE BUT PLEASE STOP READING HERE. THIS IS RATED M.**

 **This story AU from 2x01-Beggin' On Your Knees.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

 **Main Pairings-Tori/Andre Cat/Robbie Jade/Beck and some Trina/OC.**

 **This is the prologue the next chapter will involve the attack on Tori so please keep that in mind.**

 **Also this story will have some justice in it I can promise you all that.**

 **And let me know what you think.**

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Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

AU from Begging on Your Knees episode-Ryder Daniels was not going quietly and his actions have long lasting effects on the Victorious gang especially one member for the rest of their lives. Will the group crumble or get stronger? TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE AND RAPE. RATED M. Main Pairings, Andre/Tori, Jade/Beck, Robbie/Cat, some Trina/OC.

Chapter One-Prologue

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They say it can take a second for your live to change.

They say that before it does change you see in perfect picture clarity the events that lead you to this moment.

They say a lot of things. But until you understand this moment, until you have lived this moment, like she had done, like all of them had done then you don't have a clue.

You can remember ever moment in crystal clarity and it stays with you even though you read that sometimes that is not the case.

In this case, she remembered everything, every second, every detail, this would be helpful later she knew, and it had been, it had been the difference between being labelled a whore or being labelled a victim and there were times when she couldn't tell if she wanted the former or the later as her moniker.

It took her a long time to realise that she wasn't either. She was a survivor.

It was the difference…admitting these facts that made you feel that when you walked into a courtroom it was the difference between being dragged or walking in with your head held high. Or at least that's what it felt like to her. Because everyone's ordeal is different and she didn't kid herself by thinking she could tell anyone what to do.

She was lucky that she had the support of some incredible people to do that.

A girl who kicked ass and stuck by her no matter what, who took the beating with her and who shut up all the gossips.

Another girl who was light and managed to distract her from the pain with inane conversation.

A sister who never wavered in her convictions even when it seemed like her own mother was.

A boy who protected them all, who looked after her, who looked after them.

A boy with a puppet who kept his mouth shut, the boy holding him becoming a man, recognising evil in the world clearer than the bullies he was used to dealing with.

And the third boy that gave her a new lease on life. Reminding her that she was not broken or damaged, that she had done nothing wrong, that she had survived this.

They say it can only take one second for your life to change.

For her it took longer.

It took hours before it sunk it, hours before she managed to pull herself up off the cold floor and lean against the counter where that morning she had sat with another boy and tried to write a song that showed the world her disgust at men that used women that way.

It took days to recover, to become a sham of what she used to be but a pretty good front so that she could convince her absentee mother, her workaholic father and her self-absorbed sister that she was functioning. Her friends noticed but she was so numb, had been so numb that she didn't care if they noticed. Didn't care that they wondered and worried about her or teased her, didn't care about anything or anyone.

She was still standing, still able to function and that was enough, that day by day seemed a little victory, a teeny tiny step in the right direction.

Isn't that what those self-help books spewed about? Or those infuriating articles that made her slam her laptop down shut so that she didn't have to see the words or remember the images that were conjured up. Not that, that was an excuse, she didn't need to remember, she needed to forget.

Boy had she read into that wrong.

This story is many things. First and foremost, it is a trigger story; this story is about a guy who went out and destroyed a girl's life. Who tried to break her and ruin her and make her ashamed using one of the oldest and disgusting tricks there was.

But this is a story of how a group of teenagers who were all so much older than they should have been regrouped and protected this girl, looked out for her and told her until she believed them without hesitation that nothing that happened was her fault. This is a story of how a girl survived an ordeal and how her friends supported her.

This is also a love story. About a boy who pined for a broken girl and a broken girl who slowly began to fall in love again, of a girl who was tough as nails who became soft because of the boy-the protector that she fell in love with, of a big sister's love for her little sister and for two misfits who fell in love locked in their own little world.

The story went around their school in the months after, the whispers, the rumours, the accusations and the judgements. This is High School, these were teenagers. For months, there was only one topic on people's thoughts, one sentence on people's lips and two very different verdicts in people's minds.

But one thing remained. One sentence carried in people's minds, and people's lips. One thing that followed one girl around for the rest of her life-or so it seemed at that moment.

And it is this that started this story.

 _"_ _Did you hear what happened to Tori Vega?"_

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 **Next Chapter-In which there is an attack and by the end of it Tori's life is left in pieces.**

 **Let me know what you think.**


	2. The Attack

**Hi, so here is the second chapter of this story, I want to thank all of you for your kind reviews.**

 **This chapter does contain rape. I have glossed over the actual attack somewhat and based a lot of it on the aftermath and the friendships of this group. Tori goes to the one person who she trusts explicitly, and discloses. I hope I have done this chapter justice as it was incredibly difficult to write.**

 **Side Note- I really need to say this so please keep up with my waffling-Tori does have a drink in this chapter-That does not make her drunk, this does NOT give Ryder ANY excuse. And don't worry he will get his comeuppance.**

 **TRIGGER WARNINGS-RAPE, LANGUAE AND UNDERAGE DRINKING.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

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Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 2-The Attack

In which there is an attack and by the end of it Tori's life is left in pieces.

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Tori didn't even see it coming. Fresh of the performance where she had rather brilliantly she thought humiliated Ryder Daniels she had not given much thought to what would transpire next. Ryder had a history with women and none of them had come forwards to warn the next one and if she was in that kind of mood then she would wonder why. But she wasn't. instead she was happy, delighted even, she came home early to an empty house because her sister was spending time with her friends and was planning on spending the night somewhere though Tori doubted it would be with a girl, and her Mom was always out this time at some overnight Yoga retreat and her Dad-a self-admitted workaholic was pulling a night shift and wouldn't be back until lunchtime the following day and that was only if his boss kicked him out.

He was working some big case that Tori didn't understand nor did she care about if she was being completely honest with herself. All she knew was that this battle between her and the boy that she had stupidly thought had liked her for herself rather than her talent was over and she had remained the victorious one. The fact that she was home alone to celebrate this did not remotely upset her.

She opened the tequila bottle and poured herself a shot. Trina and she had done this when she had gotten into Hollywood Arts. They had snuck down to the kitchen opened a pint of Ben and Jerry's and the bottle of tequila that nobody in the house drank and therefore nobody would notice if it was gone. Tequila was not her preferred drink but she was sixteen so she supposed she didn't have much of a say in the matter.

Instead she downed a shot, poured herself another and pretended not to notice that she was still smiling. Nothing could stop her from feeling happy that now Ryder knew how she was feeling. The humiliation she had felt he had felt, Beck and Andre had refused to let him get away and she had revelled in the attention as well as the look of uncontrollably fury that had crossed Ryder's face when he had understood what she was going to do.

She leaned back against the couch and was just debating whether or not to load a movie or watch some TV when the doorbell rang.

If she had known then what she knew now…what opening that door would mean she would have barricaded herself In and called her father, and perhaps every other cop she'd ever known.

Hindsight was a bitch when you thought about it.

She opened the door, she had changed from her performance outfit into her looser sweats and a jumper and when she opened the door her hair was thrown over her shoulder and Ryder Daniels was standing there on the doorstep a very strange look on his face.

"Ryder" Tori said in surprise because she was surprised.

Ryder Daniels turning up at her house was not something that she had ever considered after tonight.

"Tori" Ryder said smiling and there was something in this smile that made her teeth stand on edge for a second before she shook her head chalking it up to the adrenaline that was still running through her body.

She was not a hard person. Ryder had hurt her, had humiliated her but Tori was not a vindictive person, she was not someone that wanted that to prolong the hurt. She was she knew a good person which considering what her sister had wanted to do to Ryder when she found out was probably a good thing.

"Can we talk?" he asked tilting his head to the side. Tori paused. She didn't want to give Ryder any hope that things between them would ever be what they were but she wasn't cruel. She had taken her revenge and made it public and as far as she was concerned that would be the end of it but she didn't want to leave someone out in the cold, she didn't want to drag it out anymore. She had won the battle and she didn't want to fight the war.

"Err…sure" she said opening the door and Ryder sneaked in. He wasn't wearing a coat she noted and she was surprised because it was cold out.

She turned to shut the door.

And that was when it happened.

Ryder picked up the tequila bottle that was on the island in the kitchen and turned so rapidly that Tori who was still shutting the door didn't have a chance to see it coming.

He smacked it across her head with enough force to send her flying backwards. Glass hit her face, her hair and tequila went flying over her face the powerful strong booze hitting her mouth and nose and making her gag as she fell backwards onto the floor her whole-body trembling.

She looked up to see Ryder staring at her with cold eyes. Those were the things she felt she would remember for the rest of her life, how cold those eyes were, how dark they were, how empty…there was nothing in those eyes that Tori could reach even if she could speak through the shock.

They stared at each other for a split second that seemed to her to go on for an eternity. There was blood dripping down the side of her face and she could feel glass in her hair and one side of her neck sticky with tequila.

And then in one fluid movement that she could not believe a giant like Ryder Daniels could possess he was on top of her and she couldn't move.

* * *

She had laid on the floor for more than an hour she thought before she finally managed to get up. And by get up she meant crawl to the side of the couch and lean against it.

It took Tori several minutes to comprehend why she was leaning against the couch and when she looked down at her hands covered in scratches and scrapes and her wrists which were bruised she realised that she was shaking.

"Shock" a part of her brain realised. "You're going into shock"

Her brain was jumping around completely uncontrollable and doing everything it could to deny the unconceivable truth about what had just happened to her body. Her hands were shaking, her whole body was shaking and she was shuddering in great heaving sobs. There was a pain in between her legs and she was making small noises she realised suddenly. A horrible gasping noise that was getting louder and louder as she tried to stand up and felt her right knee hit the floor in protest where Ryder had forced his own leg to go through the back of hers.

Finally, after what felt like an age, Tori righted herself. The pain in both her head, her leg and between them was so strong she nearly passed out and she gritted her teeth as she caught sight of herself in the mirror Trina had insisted they put downstairs so she could see herself before she left for school each morning.

She looked a mess. The vain part of her brain that was suffering shock alongside the rest of it took in her split lip, black eye and bruises that were forming on her face. The thin jagged line on her throat where Ryder had held the tequila bottle, the shattered edge to her throat as he had forced her sweats lose. Her sweats that were ripped and covered in what looked like blood. Her jumper that had somehow been forced off and her torso which too was covered in dried blood and bruises.

She felt cold, she felt dirty, she felt… _disgusting_.

You heard about this she supposed. But you never imagined it happened to you. Her mind was still dancing and jumping about, her body was still shivering now almost violently, her teeth chattering, her breathing disrupted and soon a part of her knew she would be on the verge of having a full-blown panic attack unless she managed to force herself to breathe through the pain, through the vomit rising in her throat, through the tremors racking her body.

And then her leg went out and she sat down on the floor her back to the kitchen counter and her body curling in on itself. Before she did, before she collapsed so drained and empty that she couldn't move anymore she saw her phone on the table from where she had put it before.

A rational part of her brain was beginning to dominate the part of her that was still in shock. She was still rationalising it but she realised that she did not want to be alone. She needed to not be alone. She would need help and there was nobody she could trust…except one…person.

Later both she and the other girl that she rang would wonder in depth why in her desperation Tori rang her loosest friend, her competition, the woman who she suspected was destined to be her best friend and her rival. But right there and then all she knew was that she was in dire need of help and wanted someone she knew inexplicably that she could trust.

She found her phone her hands slipping and in a daze, she got the number she wanted.

The phone rang twice and then it picked up and Tori had never been so happy to hear the snarl that came from Jade West in her entire life.

"Jade" she said her voice trembling. "Are you with Beck right now?"

"No am I not" Jade snapped sounding peeved. "I am my house watching The Scissoring and you know how I don't like to be disturbed so this had better be a matter of life and death and by death, I mean yours"

Tori didn't want to admit that Jade might be right.

"I need your help" she said finally her teeth chattering, "I need you to come to my house on your own Jade I need your help…"

She trailed off as something threatened to choke her. There was water leaking from somewhere but she couldn't see where.

"Vega what's wrong?" there was something in Jade's voice that made Tori bit her lip even as a slither of gratitude surrounded her. Jade knew that something was wrong, she could hear it in her friend's voice and Tori leaned her head back on the counter as another tremble ran through her.

"I need you to come here Jade please" she said and she couldn't stop herself from moaning in pain this time.

"Ok" Jade said. "Ok I can come over; can you make it to the door to let me in?"

Tori eyed the distance between the door and to where she had collapsed with dread. Finally, she nodded "I can" because really what choice did she have?

"Ok" Jade said finally her voice quiet. "Ok Tori" she said finally. "I am on the way" she hung up the phone and Tori let it drop to the floor out of her numb fingers with a clatter.

She staggered to her feet but only managed to make it a few steps before she fell again clutching the side of the couch as her already battered knee hit the carpet. She could see broken glass from where she had been thrown on the carpet and the shards that had gone flying were digging into both her hands and her knees. The scent of tequila was almost overpowering but there was something in her that even months later she couldn't describe that made her grit her teeth and reach for the couch to pull herself up.

This was her home and she would not crawl in it.

Her body was in agony but somehow, she made it to the door and it was that wooden frame that she leaned upon trying desperately to regain some strength even as a strange numb feeling seemed to be setting in both her mind and her body. She stayed there until she heard a soft knock and before she forced herself to her feet again moaning in agony not able to keep the panic or the pain inside anymore did she finally get the door open with bloody fumbling fingers.

Had her nails always been painted red?

Jade was stood there looking confused. Her dark hair streaked with green was loose though she had pulled some of it back off her face so that it made her eyes wider in her face. She was wearing her black jumper and skirt that she had worn to Tori's performance so many hours ago that it felt like days. Years even. Her feet were crammed into her boots but she wasn't wearing the tights that generally accompanied them and much to Tori's relief she was alone.

She took one look at Tori who knew she looked like hell and then her eyes widened.

"Fucking hell" she said and she slid in through the door shutting it and at long last Tori's legs gave out from under her and she slid to the floor.

Jade went down on her knees next to her and her hand came out to touch Tori's shoulder but the thought of being touched while she was so dirty (or so she felt like) sent such a wave of panic through her that she staggered back with a cry and Jade looking horrified snatched her hand away as if she had been scalded and fell backwards looking around the room with wide eyes.

"Tori" she said and her voice was so gentle that Tori felt herself look up at her even though there was still water coming down from somewhere.

"Jade" she said so quietly that she herself had to strain to hear herself. "Where is the water coming from?"

Jade blinked and then her mouth did a funny little twist Tori had never seen before, as if Jade West wanted to crumble but wouldn't let herself.

"Sweetheart" she said gently. "Your crying"

Oh.

"Tori" Jade said again and her voice was so impossibly soft that Tori found that she could look at her without flinching away.

"What happened?"

"Ryder" she said choking on a sob as finally her brain caught up with what her memory was telling her, with what her body was telling her. Jade stared at her for a second and then when she spoke her voice was filled with both concern and a hint of that all-powerful darkness that came when Jade got pissed.

"Tori what did Ryder Daniels do?"

She knew Tori realised. She knew and she was waiting for Tori to say it because only when Tori acknowledged this then it was out in the open.

Tori choked on the sobs that had been steadily growing her body battered and torn and looked into the eyes of the one person that she thought she could trust and spoke the three words that would forever change her life.

"He raped me"

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 **Next Chapter-From Jade's perspective-Jade get's a phone call from Tori that shakes her to her very foundation and she finds herself making decisions for a girl that once a long time ago she promised that she was going to hate.**

 **I will try and update as soon as I can but I am moving out soon and going back to school so it might be a while. **


	3. The Sound Of Silence

**Hi so here is another chapter.**

 **I want to state in this chapter that justice will happen. Right now Tori is in shock and not processing, as this chapter is entirely Jade's point of view I promise you the next chapter we will get clearer insight into why she is trying to cover this up. Jade at this point is just trying to be a supportive friend and trying to do what Tori wants regardless of what she feels is right.**

 **TRIGGER WARNINGS AHEAD.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

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Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 3-The Sound Of Silence

Jade gets a phone call from Tori that shakes her to her very foundation and she finds herself making decisions for a girl that once a long time ago she promised that she was going to hate. Jade's Point of View. 

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Jade had been watching a film when the call came in. She had come home from the dance and curled up in her big bed and put on The Scissoring. There was nothing like a cup of tea, a big warm bed and a violent movie that killed off most of the drippy characters in the first half an hour to take away the stress that came with a long day.

Most of the dance would still be ongoing. There would be a hell of a lot of afterparties and most of them would be dedicated to the shaming of Ryder Daniels. As it turned out there was a lot more girls than she had given him credit for. Hell, half of the women in Hollywood Arts would either be after blood, either way they knew what he was.

And the song Jade would admit here in the privacy of her own bedroom was really good. And Tori had looked…really good. Even Jade had, had a hard time keeping her eyes off her, Andre on the other hand had looked like he wanted to storm the stage, sweep her into his arms and lay her down on the floors of the stage and never let her go.

God, he was obvious, wasn't he?

Well Tori didn't get the fact that the idiot was half in love with her but then Jade supposed you didn't get into a school like Hollywood Arts because you were the brainiest kid in LA.

Andre had been half in love with the girl since she had sung that song that had somehow got her a place in the school, in Jade's life.

It was thinking like this that made Jade itch for Beck's hair. When they were together and he could tell she was getting agitated about something he would simply lie his head down in her lap and allow her to comb her fingers through the thick waves of brown hair. Most of the time she got the impression that he enjoyed it more than she did but it was a fast ritual between them allowing each other to calm the other down by intimate touches they would never allow in public. This was born out of both of them being incredibly possessive of the other (even if Beck hid it well) and Beck's increased desire for privacy when it came to their relationship.

But Beck had insisted he needed time tonight to focus on a song writing essay he had due in and Jade could sympathise with her boyfriend. All students took the basic, acting, singing, dancing, song writing classes when they came to school and that lasted four years. They could choose electives each year depending on where they saw their careers going but those four, alongside the basic academic subjects remained. Her boyfriend had already chosen his path and that led to acting and he was damn good at it.

Jade had offered to help but Beck liked to work alone and said he would call her when he needed help, which considering it was almost eleven, Jade would speculate that he would call somewhere around one, that he'd had a beer and that he would be desperate for help.

And she'd help him because it was Beck and she was a lush when it came to a desperate Beck.

God, she wanted him so much. She loved him so much.

Her phone buzzed next to her, pulling her out of her movie, ice cream and Beck induced coma and she frowned.

Vega.

Ugh.

Ok so she didn't particular hate Vega as much as she used to do. The woman was talented, as much as Jade loathed this, she couldn't change that fact and she had also managed to get one of her closest friends to fall in love with her while remaining totally oblivious to that fact which Jade could not understand. There was always a slight calculation when she was chasing after Beck even if it was mixed with genuine feelings and she knew that the chase had been mutual. Hell, there was a hickey on her inner thigh right now that spoke of mutual desire towards one another.

But Vega had walked into the room all sunshine and daisies and Andre Harris had fallen in love with her in seconds. Had it been anyone else it would have been very amusing but it was Andre who Jade actually did like, therefore it had irritated her at the beginning that it was Vega who had caught his eye. And Tori who was so oblivious that she never seemed to pick up the fact that Andre perked up like a kid at Christmas whenever she walked in the room had chosen to go out with a sexist pig like Ryder Daniels, whose reputation Jade was very aware thank you very much. So, the whole thing had irritated her…even it was a very good song.

Therefore, she picked up the phone with a more than a flicker of irritation.

"Vega" she said in a tone that spoke to her annoyance that she hoped Tori picked up on. "This had better be a matter of life or death and by death, I mean yours"

God did this woman not understand what The Scissoring was to her?

She was even more annoyed that Vega only wanted to know where Beck was and was he with her. seriously? Ok so Jade no longer believed that Tori was after her boyfriend but this was really not doing wonders for Jade's temper levels. She could already feel them rising.

"I need your help" Tori muttered and even as she kept speaking there was something in her voice that made Jade sit up a little straighter. Something cold slipped down her spine. There was something in Tori's voice that she had never heard before and she couldn't put her finger on why it was making her reach for her discarded boots. Something must be wrong for her to sound that way.

"I need you to come over" Tori was saying and Jade pulled herself away to listen to her because it sounded like Tori genuinely needed help. And that didn't sit right with her. Tori Vega was many things but she was fiercely independent, and right now she wasn't sure what it was in Tori's voice that made her think that something truly terrible had happened to a woman that most of the time she actually liked.

Oh god, what if she couldn't make it to the door to let her in? Was it that bad?

"Tori" she said reaching for her boot that had managed to somehow make its way over to the other side of the room. "I am coming now"

She wasn't sure what else she said. Hell, if she was too look back on this she wasn't sure if she said anything but she was sure that she had told Tori to try and make it to the door. Jade could handle whatever it was so long as Tori could make it to the door. Well, that was what she told herself. The reality was she wasn't sure what the hell she was dealing with and with that she grabbed her trusty scissors that she could throw like a blade and stuffed them in her boot least she need them.

It was one of the strangest drives she thought that she had ever done. And that included the time she found a reporter in Beck's backseat and that time she had given him a hand-job, it was strange because looking back she could not remember any of it.

Instead she took a breath and opened the door that was open just a crack.

At first the stench of tequila was overpowering. So much so that Jade felt a gag in the back of her throat and she stopped looking around hearing crunching but not sure where it was coming from.

There was glass under her feet. She kicked it too one side and then looked up and her breath caught in her throat. Curled into a ball, almost in half was Tori Vega, her dark hair covering her face, her bra ripped, her sweats loose around the stomach and her hands bruised and bloodied. How could this be the same Tori Vega as the one who had just been singing and dancing on the stage.

She half collapsed onto a thankfully glass free section of the carpet. Tori was crying but she didn't seem to understand where the water was coming from. Jade could feel her own eyes begin to water because something terrible had happened here and as Tori mouthed the words Ryder Daniels she got a horrible feeling what had happened.

Say it, she thought bitterly. They both had to hear her say it and they both had to hear it. Certainly, Jade did.

"He raped me" she choked out and Jade breathed in sharply feeling something sharp hit her in her ribs. Rape. It was a disgusting word to describe the very worst thing a human being could do to another and she swallowed the bile in her throat. Finally, she breathed through the bile and spoke and this time she tried to make it as soothing as was humanly possible.

"Tori" she said gently moving forwards. "I need to take you to the hospital"

But Tori was already shaking her head. Jade bit her lip feeling tears well and she tried to smile through them in what she hoped was a gentle way, she and Tori had, had their differences but she could never wish this on her worse enemy and a part of her wanted to cry with her.

"Sweetheart" she said gently. "You need to get checked out, you need to make sure that he didn't leave anything behind and then they can call the police"

Tori screamed then, "No" she shouted shaking her head so fast Jade was sure she was going to do herself an injury. "No" she shouted again and Jade tried to keep up with the mumbling but she couldn't. Tori was going into shock she knew that, hell, at this point Jade felt like she was going into shock so never mind what Tori was going through. Jade caught the words, 'My Dad' 'Deserved it' and something like 'Didn't fight back' which was hardly grounds for not going to the hospital in her opinion.

"Tori" she said and then without knowing what to do she reached out and grabbed the girls bruised hands. Touch from someone who wasn't her attacker seemed to ground her a little and Tori looked at her then fear in her big brown eyes.

"You are bleeding" she said finally. "I need to take you to hospital, they need to check you out, look we can get out before they call the police or you can refuse to speak to them or give them your name but we need to check them out. Does your Dad work these kinds of cases?"

There was a small shake of the head.

"Ok" Jade said nodding, a part of her hated herself for suggesting this and the other part didn't know what to do but the other part of her knew that she had to get Tori help even if she didn't want it. If Tori refused to give the hospital her name then Jade would get her home and clean up this mess even if she felt sick to her stomach about it but right now she had some semblance of trust with this girl who was now so frightened she could barely look at Jade and she wasn't going to betray it and let Tori go through this on her own.

"Ok, so let me get you a jumper and then we can go to the hospital. They can check you out and make sure that you are…that nothing is permidantly damaged…and then if you want we can go home and I will deal with the police" she swallowed as a truly terrible thought came to her.

"Tori are you on any contraception right now?"

Tori sobbed into her hands but her head moved up and down and Jade took that as a yes.

"Ok so then I will get you a morning after pill and check for STDs and then we will come home and I will stay until you want me to go away...that sound like a plan to you?"

She was mumbling now and Jade knew that she had to get Tori to the car least she forgot how to drive and crash them to cap it all off.

There was a jumper of Trina's on the side of the table and without warning she shoved it over Tori's head. Finally, she held out her hand and Tori after staring at it for minutes took it. Jade winced as she saw Tori's leg tremble but she managed to get her out of the house, down the drive and into the car without any hesitation which she thought was a plus.

Ultimately, she couldn't do anything about the police she knew. While Jade wanted to see Ryder Daniels face down in the river for his crime she also knew Tori would not apricate Jade cutting him into tiny pieces. Nor would she want the rest of them to do something. Knowing her friends as she did she knew Andre would kill him, Beck would get rid of the body, Robbie would clean the crime scene and Cat and Trina would cobble together a lie that was brilliantly believable and look too innocent when it was presented.

But she wanted Beck here. She wanted his arms around her even as they drove through the traffic, she wanted him so badly to hold her while they waited to sort through this mess. How could a day that had started out so good end like this?

Tori was curled into the seat her eyes horribly deadened. She was in shock but the trembling had stopped. Jade didn't know if that was a good sign or a bad one but she forced herself to park responsibly and carry her friend out the car. She was listening to Jade but Jade would give all her eyeliner to the fact that Tori was just following what she was doing.

* * *

"Come on" Jade muttered not sure who she was speaking too. One nurse caught sight of them and without hesitation opened the curtain to the nearest exam room and Jade helped Tori onto the bed breathing a sigh of relief.

"Darling?" the woman said and Jade turned her attention away. She was young, about twenty and had dark hair tied back in a plat. She was smiling at Jade and Jade wanted to scream because what was there to smile about? Instead she nodded to show she was listening.

"Are you hurt?"

"No" she gestured to Tori and the woman understood.

"Can you tell me what happened to your friend?"

Jade bit her lip. What was she going to say?

"She called me and I found her like this" she said because that was the truth. "And I took her to hospital, she needs…looking at and…" she shot another agonised look to Tori who was still staring into space, she lowered her voice.

"She needs the pill and some tests doing"

That was also true. She had not disclosed but she reckoned by the way the woman's eyes widened she got the message.

"Ok, can you tell me her name?"

"No names" it was Tori that mumbled that, she shook her head her bare feet scratching the sheets.

"No names, no police" and with that she stopped talking.

The woman shot Jade a look.

"I am obligated to report sexual assault" she said gently.

"You can report it" Jade said because even she knew that was law. "But I don't think we will be there when the police arrive…we don't have to talk to them"

"No" the woman said. "But can I take a name, any name…"

"My name is Jade" Jade said finally. "And that is the only name we will give" and with that she sat on the plastic chair and shot the woman her best bitch look. She was only relieved when the woman scuttled off.

"Thank you" Tori said finally looking at her for the first time all night.

Jade swallowed. "Tori there is no shame in reporting this" she tried but Tori shook her head. "I don't want to think about this" she said finally her voice breaking. "Please Jade can I just get…can they just do their jobs so I can go home and take a shower?"

Her voice was so pitiful that Jade couldn't help but nod her head.

"If they ask me, I will tell them that you need more time"

Tori looked like she wanted to say something but instead just closed her eyes.

Jade sat with her friend while she got her head sewn up, when she had changed into the hospital gown and her fingers had fumbled on her bra, while she had a rape kit done, while she was prodded and poked and when she downed the pill with her little cup of water. All the time her friend gripped her hand so tightly Jade was sure she was going to lose circulation to it. But Tori did it and Jade had never been prouder to know someone before. Truly her friend had done one of the bravest thing possible and Jade was so proud of her.

As Tori was changing back into the scrubs that Jade had all but threatened the nurse to give to them, her clothes had been taken from her and Jade noted they labelled them Jane Doe-if she survived this without throwing up there it would be a miracle. Evidence be damned she would be fucked if Tori was getting back into her car wearing a backless hospital gown.

Instead she helped Tori get dressed trying not to stare at the bruising on her ribs that looked like a knee had pressed into it, trying not to look at the slash just above her left breast that had come from a shard of broken glass.

Finally, she managed to wait until she saw a change at the nurse's station and then she pushed Tori down the corridor. She seemed to be coming back to herself and she made it to the car, her bare feet crunching on the gravel before Jade realised she had left her phone in the room.

"Tori" she said and she looked at Jade and Jade was week kneed to see the look of someone at least there in her eyes. She was focusing on Jade for the first time since disclosing she had been raped.

"I need to go back for my phone"

She ducked back into the room reaching for the smooth phone cover. She swallowed hard and then forced herself to look at the time. It was a little after midnight, Beck had been texting all night. His last text had been filled with little love hearts and Jade had to clap a hand over her mouth wanting nothing more to do but to crawl into his arms and pretend that everything was ok. That he could protect her from everything in this world.

She forced her feet down the corridor just as she saw a woman with short cropped brown hair and a man in early stages of balding walk in. The nurse who had treated Tori was talking to them and Jade ducked her head running past them silently least she be found. The last thing she wanted was to talk.

She made it just outside and into the car before she saw them at the hospital entrance. Of course, there was CTV and they were at a drama school, half of them were all over YouTube and Tori was talented so Jade didn't think it would be long before someone turned up but she could buy Tori a little bit of time.

* * *

She managed to get Tori inside, into her bedroom and into the shower. Well Tori all but leaped into the shower and Jade went to find her new clothes balling the hospital scrubs into a little ball and sticking them under the bed, just in case.

Tori stayed in there a long time and finally Jade went in to pull her out. The coconut shower gel she was using was long gone and her skin was pink so Jade pulled her out of the shower, wet hair and all and found a loose jumper and some clean panties. Tori put them on methodically and then crawled under the bed.

"I'm gonna go get you some painkillers, some cocoa and clean away downstairs" Jade said finally. Tori didn't say a word.

"Are you sure you want me to clean…" she couldn't say crime scene she really couldn't.

"Yes" Tori said finally her voice scratchy.

Jade made her way downstairs. The smell of tequila was still strong but she went first to route around the damn drinks cabinet for anything other than the amber liquid. She found a bottle of vodka and opened the bottle drinking straight from it until her throat felt like it would be set alight. Gagging a little but feeling slightly better she forced herself to pick up all the glass pieces, to hoover away Tori's rape and throw away the evidence. Once the room was clean she stopped, she put away all the cleaning supplies, sat down on the couch and cried.

She sobbed for five minutes. Jade knew this because she had been methodically about giving herself some time. She needed to spend a little time on herself and then she would go upstairs and be with her friend.

She left her phone downstairs. Right now, she couldn't deal with Beck. She couldn't lie to him when all she wanted was his arms around her so tight she couldn't breathe, when she wanted him to curl around her so she was safe and secure and she knew her man would protect her.

Finally, she stood up, she put away the vodka, made cocoa and got the painkillers and she found her hands were shaking so much she thought she was going to drop the milk down her front, kicking off her boots at the stairs and her skirt as she reached Tori's door. The girl was shuddering beneath the covers and Jade felt her eyes water again.

Nobody deserved this.

Nobody.

But instead she didn't talk, she watched Tori take the painkillers and a sip of cocoa and she watched her eyes in the dark, leaving at least one light on she curled up next to Tori Vega in the dark, when she felt the girl grabble for her hand she took it and Jade West lay down and didn't sleep all night wondering how you came back from this.

* * *

 **And let me know what you think. This chapter was insanely difficult to write.**

 **Next Chapter-Both Tori and Jade attempt to come to terms with what has happened and the lies they are now telling.**

 **I will try and update as soon as I can**


	4. The Nighmare Begins

**Hi, so here is another chapter and the plot thickens some more...as I always maintain this story will resolve in Tori getting justice but right now she is in shock...as the story progresses I promise you that certain issues will be resolved.**

 **This chapter also deals with a little bit more of Jade's perspective but the next chapter will bring the rest of the gang back to the story.**

 **TRIGGER WARNINGS-This chapter contains mentions of rape, anyone affected by this should stop at this point. Thank You.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just the two detectives at the end.**

 **Please Read and Review and let me know what you think.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 4-The Nightmare Begins

Both Tori and Jade attempt to come to terms with what had happened and the lies that they are now telling.

* * *

When Tori woke up for a second, for a spilt second, for a glorious second she had no clue why she was in her bed curled around her duvet and her hand clenched into a fist.

Then she took one look at her bloody fists and it all came crashing back down around her. Ryder, the hospital…she had been raped.

The truth seemed to consume her. It dominated her for a second, so powerful that she couldn't breathe, she could still remember every tiny detail but she couldn't think about what it meant when she looked down and saw that she had gone to bed in her bra and was covered in scratches.

Then suddenly just as it seemed she was on the verge of a full-blown panic attack there was someone there with dark hair loose to her waist and a cup of tea on the side of the bed. It was Jade. Her makeup was scrubbed clean of her face and even in the midst of her panic she could see it made her friend younger, her hair was loose and she was in her own bra and her skirt and she grabbed Tori's face with her hands. Somehow the sight of Jade did make Tori control her breathing somewhat. She had called Jade she remembered, she had taken back some control in the situation and called for help, she had called the one person that she knew she could trust to be there in a situation like this.

No, it was not a situation. It was rape.

She started so much that Jade fell backwards before she scrambled up to her feet. She was barefooted and Tori noticed with a detached sort of interest that she had painted her toenails a pale lilac colour which was unusual for Jade.

"I need to shower" she muttered suddenly. It was like lice were crawling all over her and she couldn't breathe. Jade nodded catching Tori's hands and pressing them close together.

"Tori" she said slowly. "I can run you a bath and help you clean up but I should tell you that if we do that then you are going to wash…" she seemed to visibly struggle with something and then she said in a rush so fast that Tori had to struggle to keep her sluggish brain up with the words that were being said.

"But if you do that than you're going to wash the DNA off you and that could make it tricky."

"I thought…" she wanted to say that she thought they must have done that with the rape kit but she couldn't. Jade, wonderful woman that she was nodded catching onto what Tori was trying to say.

"Yeah honey but they might want more"

"No" she looked up then desperate to make Jade understand that she didn't want to be looked at differently, labelled differently, she was the daughter of a police officer for crying out loud she shouldn't have allowed herself to be put in this situation…but that was a debate for another day. Her brain couldn't handle it and she just wanted to soak under the water and never come up, she wanted to wash all the grime and the dirt and the stench of Ryder Daniels off her skin and then she wanted to sleep until she never woke up again.

There was a pause where Jade looked at her for a long second and then she nodded. "Ok" was all that was said. "But I am gonna insist that you keep the clothes you were wearing, I'll stick them under my bed until your comfortable enough to tell me to burn them"

Tori took that to mean Jade was going to keep all the evidence she could until Tori had convinced her that she wasn't going to trial. She nodded. Jade nodded again. "There are some painkillers next to the bed with the tea, I cleaned downstairs and Trina has gone shopping. I don't think she noticed anything. I told her that tonight you were staying with me as we were working on a project and that you'd see her at school tomorrow…if you wanna go in of course. I'll run you a bath and help you clean up your face but for now drink your tea and try…try to calm down a little. I can hear your heart racing from here and that's no good for anyone"

Tori nodded. She reached out then just as Jade was about to stand up.

"I don't know how to thank you" she said finally and she was ashamed to realise that tears were once again coming to her eyes. Jade looked away and Tori noticed that her eyes were overbright. Jade was not a woman to be overcome by a moment of sentimentality but Tori through the haze of fog clouding her brain suddenly understood that what she had asked Jade to do the night before might have taken a toll on the older girl in a way that neither of them would have expected.

"You don't need too" Jade said shaking her head and looking down at her chipped nail varnish. "You just have to put one foot in front of the other right now, besides, it's what friends do"

And with that she turned into the bedroom and Tori heard the sounds of running taps. She paused taking in another deep breath which sent a flare of pain through her ribs where Ryder had placed his knee on it the night before and took a sip of tea. The water burned her but it was nothing compared to what she was feeling and she tried to lie back down but she couldn't. instead she just sat there waiting until she could smell the fresh scent of her jasmine bubble bath hit the air and Jade came back.

The tears were still falling thick down her face but this time Tori tried to make herself stop. She had to make herself stop. It had to stop hurting at some point.

Right?

* * *

Jade took a deep breath as soon as the door shut and fumbled around for her phone. Already there were three text messages from Beck. She swallowed. She had text him last night when Tori had eventually gone into a light state of sleep, that she was spending the night with Tori to help her work on a project, either Beck had been drunk or half dead to the world but he had bought it, only know he was sending little texts hinting that he might come over and see if Tori had survived the night.

Once upon a time she might have loved him for that but now she just felt an indescribable sense of panic and shame well up inside her.

This was not Tori's fault she reminded herself sharply. Nobody, man or woman asked for this and Tori was one of the few people that Jade would be willing to bet everything on who did not deserve a single second of pain.

Because Tori was good, she was kind, she was…now a _victim._

Jade was glad she had set the taps running in the bathroom before she turned and puked more bile into the toilet. She had not eaten since before she got the phone call and right now she wasn't sure if she could stomach anything other than three cups of coffee and the bottle of water she had ingested. Hell, she had only made Tori tea because Jade knew caffeine in Tori's system would do them no favours. Not with the adrenaline high.

Instead Jade wiped her mouth on the toilet roll next to her, flushed and then considered what to do. She didn't see a way out of this that didn't involve breaking the little trust that Tori had built in her since last night. And there was no way in hell that she was letting Tori suffer this on her own.

Lying to Trina had been bad enough but it had been manageable. She didn't want to think what lying to Beck was gonna cost her. And that was why she had text him this morning and not rang him-in truth she didn't think that she could have trusted her voice to speak without letting Beck know that something truly terrible had happened last night.

She turned and reached for the shower gel/bubble bath that she knew was Tori's and dumped half of it into the bath. The smell of jasmine was overwhelming and it almost made her head spin but she forced herself to her feet and catching sight of herself in the mirror.

Jade was almost too shocked to think. She had known this night had taken its toll on her but she could see in the whiteness of her face, her bottom lip where she had pulled away the skin throughout the night was red and bloody with bits of blood on her chin and around her mouth. Her hair was a mess of dark waves and she ran a hand through it wincing at the texture of un-brushed hair and pushed it back off her face staring at her dark eyes big in the mirror, dark circles etched under them.

She shook her head once breathing in deeply through her nose and trying to keep her heart rate that had been spiking all over the place in the last twenty-four hours under control. She breathed in sharply looking at herself in the mirror. "You are doing this" she hissed at the mirror.

"You are doing this, you are helping her, you are doing this…we are doing this…" Jade muttered looking down at the sink and brushing her hair back out of her eyes. There was a pause where she stood there and then she stood up straightening her spine and she turned around turning the tap of and opened the door to see Tori sat on the bed staring at her hands the tea and toast she had brought her practically untouched.

"Tori" she said gently "Bath's ready"

She stripped Tori down to her skin. She threw the jumper to the side, the sweats, the torn bra. She took in the bruises on her upper thighs, the blood drying there and the dark imprint on Tori's ribs, the scratches near her breasts and the deep cut near her head that the nurse had only just managed to stich up before they had ran from the hospital like it was the last thing that they would ever do.

She swallowed bitterly. Suddenly the injuries were so much worse in the light of day. Slowly she helped Tori into the bath and the other woman sat down amongst the bubbles her hair lank and her knees curled around her body in some sort of pitiful defence that made Jade grit her teeth against the rage she felt towards Ryder Daniels and the whole fucking world.

Instead she managed a small smile and picked up a sponge and some shampoo, she steadfastly ignored her phone chiming with a text that she knew was from Beck and decided not to gaze directly into Tori's deadened eyes.

And so, the nightmare begins she thought. So, it begins.

* * *

James Alexander had worked in Sex Crimes for more than five years now, had been a seasoned detective for nearly ten and was more than happy to contemplate retirement in order to forget some of the shit that he saw on a day to day.

This one was steadily shaping up to be a shit day.

The call had come through last night but by the time he and his partner, Anna Rayis had gotten the call the girls had ran from the hospital. It was not uncommon he knew for rape victims to run from the police but it just meant finding them and convincing them to press charges was a lot harder.

And this case didn't help, he had one name to go on. Jade. And according to the nurse it wasn't even her who had been attacked.

Right now, he had sort of photo of this 'Jade's' face-courtesy of the hospital camera's but nothing of the other girl except a mess of brown hair. Rayis had gone in search of two cinnamon Danishes that his wife would tell him not to eat and he was scrawling through yearbook photos online trying to find this girl.

They looked about High School age and if they managed to speak to the friend she might convince the victim-whoever she was to come forwards.

The door to the office creaked open and Detective David Vega popped his head round. James was just about to ask him if he had gotten lost on his way to Homicide but the man was already smiling.

"Hey, you don't know where Roman is do you? I asked him to run some blood down to the lab but that was over two hours ago"

James shook his head.

"No sorry dude"

David stared at him, they had known each other on and off for two years now.

"Bad case?"

"Yeah, teenage girl I think, ran from the hospital before we could speak to her"

David sighed. "You know it's shit like that, that makes me think of my two girls"

"Yeah" James laughed without humour. "I hear ya"

Another smile and David was gone in search of his elusive partner.

James took another deep breath and was just considering if his wife Cathy would kill him if he drank another mug of liquidised tar that was the coffee here when a ping from his computer told him he had found a match and Rayis walked through the door.

"You found our girl?" she asked passing him the Danish and a cup of real coffee (God bless that woman).

"No" James shook his head. "But I think I found her friend, the one who gave her name as Jade, when she went back in for her phone she got caught on a camera. She's a kid at that fancy preforming school Hollywood Arts. Least we can speak to her, see if she can help the other girl come forward, if she took a disclosure then she knows who did this"

"Who is she?" Anna asked taking a bit of her Danish.

James focused his attention on the screen.

"Jade West"

* * *

 **Hopefully the next chapter will be here sooner as I wont have so much on my plate but I cannot make promises.**

 **And the next chapter is more than likely going to be in Jade's point of view.**

 **Next Chapter-As Jade leaves Tori on her own in an attempt to cover for her at school she finds pretending that nothing happened too hard for her to manage especially when she gets some visitors and finds the web of lies she is spinning getting worse and worse.**

 **Let me know what you think.**


	5. Cry Me A River

**Hi, so here is another chapter, this one is again from Jade's perspective but I promise you next chapter we get some more points of view.**

 **Also Tori does suffer a period in this story where she blames herself. This will pass. For any readers out there this IS NOT Tori's fault, Jade at the minute is just struggling on how to make her believe this while she figures out if she can lie to Beck for Tori. But don't worry because soon the story all comes out.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is really mine.**

 **Trigger Warning's for rape and some foul language.**

 **Also I am having trouble with a laptop issue at the moment but please keep that in mind (insert eye roll) I will try and get the next chapter up pronto but it might take some time.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 5-Cry Me A River

As Jade Leaves Tori on her own in an attempt to cover for her at school she finds pretending that nothing happened too hard for her to manage especially when she gets some visitors and finds the web of lies she is spinning getting worse and worse.

* * *

Jade hadn't wanted to go. She really hadn't wanted to go to school the next day, but she had already taken a day off and she wouldn't be surprised if Beck ended up kicking down the door to her house in order to see if she was alright. She sent out a text saying she was coming into school but that as far as she knew Tori was still down with the bug. It was practical and an easy lie to believe even if it wasn't to tell.

And it was mostly the truth. Tori couldn't move of her bed from where Jade had managed to get her curled under the covers from. They had left the Vega house as soon as Tori had got out the bath but no sooner had they entered Jade's than Tori asked her quietly if she could take another one.

Fortunately, or not depending on how you looked at it Tori seemed to be coming out of her shock, she scrubbed her skin red with Jade's sponge until Jade finally took it out of her hands and she changed by herself into some clean clothes. There was nothing Jade could do about the underwear, Tori was at least one cup smaller than her in bra's and all of Jade's underwear was flimsy and lacey and not appropriate in the slightest.

Not for the first time was she glad that her parents were workaholics with a tendency to travel abroad. There were no questions about the half cationic girl in Jade's bed or the way for some reason Jade's hands kept shaking or the way she had to take several deep breaths to calm down and stop her heart from racing dangerously. Her parents were away for another month at least and it seemed Tori's parents were reliant on Trina for information and that meant that Trina would inevitably leave them alone.

And much to Jade's relief she manged to get Tori to eat something that night. Dressed in leggings and one of Jade's blue shirts that she was sure once upon a time might have been Beck's she had sat down at the kitchen and when Jade had cautiously slid a plate of grilled cheese towards her she had managed to eat one half of the sandwich and then the second half even if she did look a little bit queasy at the end of it.

But it was a start.

"I didn't know you could cook" she mumbled suddenly. Jade started.

"I don't" she said shocked into honesty. "To be honest Beck does most of the cooking. He comes over and cooks and we hang out"

The truth was they had sex, but she didn't want to mention that.

"Jade" Tori said looking at her.

"Tori if you say thank you one more time…" Jade said feeling so tired of being thanked for something that didn't even need thinking about.

Tori managed a small smile. "I know you think I should have reported it to the police"

Jade started.

"Yeah I do" she said finally. "I think that Ryder should rot for what he did to you and if you think that anyone of us wouldn't support you then…"

Tori shook her head.

"I know you would back me. I don't want to go to trial because I…because I goaded him, I humiliated him and…anyway" she let out a horrifically false laugh that was ruined by the tears rising to her eyes again.

"My Dad's a cop, he taught me how to protect myself and I…" she broke off suddenly.

"No" Jade said suddenly. She might not have any control over whether Tori went to the cops or not, but she would be damned if her friend thought that she had had this coming.

"You did not deserve this, you did not ask for it and it is not your fault"

Tori still wouldn't look at her. jade reached out and despite the fact that Tori had not initiated any touch grabbed her by the hand and forced the girl to look at her.

"Victoria" she said firmly using the girls long name. "This was _not your fault_ and I will sit here and say it until you get it through your head"

Tori stared at her for a second but then she dropped her gaze back to her plate.

"Jade" she said finally. "Are you sure that you don't want me to go?"

"No" Jade said turning to refill the coffee pot. "I want you to stay until you feel comfortable to go home."

Tori buried her face in her hands pulling back her hair so the limp, wet strands were falling through her fingers. She blinked back tears again and let out a shaky laugh. "Sorry" she said as Jade passed her the coffee mug and the pot of sugar that Tori liked to sprinkle her coffee with. She looked back up at Jade her lips broken and cracked stretched into a broken and utterly fake smile.

"I don't know why I keep crying"

Jade took a deep breath though the hopelessness in Tori's voice made something behind her rib cage thump heavily. She shook her head and then reached out to touch Tori's arm. She considered it good that the girl didn't pull back or flinch away.

"You cry all you want Vega, I can take it."

Tori smiled again blinked hard and took a small sip of her coffee which Jade supposed was a good sign. God, she had no idea what the hell she was doing here and there was nobody to talk too.

"I wish you would go to the police" she said finally.

Tori shook her head.

"I've made up my mind on this, this whole thing will be better if I just…if I just leave it…it might be the cowards way out, it might be wrong, it might…I just don't want to go to the police. God my father Jade, the LA Police Detective that taught me and Trina what to do if we were attacked when we both turned fourteen…God could you imagine what he would say? I froze Jade, I lay there and froze while Ryder…I just froze. So, no, no I don't want to go to the police, so they can what? Take Ryder to court where some defence attorney will tell me that I wanted it, that I goaded him by that performance, that I had it coming? God he'll think I'm a disappointment, the school will think I'm a drama queen…I'm not brave like you Jade I cannot do that, I cannot go through that. I don't want to do that"

Jade swallowed again feeling like there were knives in her throat. This was wrong, this was wrong on so many levels because none of this was Tori's fault and yet here she was, blaming herself, hating herself, acting like she could sweep this under the rug. Fuck, how had her life, Tori's life become an episode of Law and Order SVU overnight?

"Ok" she said finally. "If that's what you want to do then I will support you but…but will you tell anyone. I mean not your family though I think Trina…I mean…Andre, Beck…those guys will have your back"

But Tori was shaking her head and Jade felt her heart sink. She had been hoping against hope that Tori would let in their friends into this nightmare. Then she might have Beck on her side while she dealt with this, Andre would support Tori, would throw himself into it with the entire force of his being, he was the one head over heels for her, he would be the one that knew what to say, that would convince her to press charges against this bastard. Jade didn't have a clue what she was doing and yet here she was being the support system for a girl who was shattering over and over again.

But that was what she signed up for didn't she?

That was what friends do.

"Ok" she said finally. She didn't like but in all honestly what could she say?

And that was how Jade found herself going to school.

* * *

It was more of a survival reason than anything. She left Tori sat on her couch watching (but not really) reruns of 'That 70s Show' and had installed the dire promise that Tori was to text her every hour upon the hour or Jade would ring and that would not be pleasant. She hadn't wanted to go but she knew her boyfriend too well and if she missed another day of school then there was a very good chance Beck would go looking for her.

She ducked inside the hallways and into the girl's bathroom completely missing first period and too boot she had no coffee. Jade took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down her knuckles turning white with the effort.

Then slowly she began to get a grip on her emotions. She had dressed in her skinny black jeans and her green checked shirt and boots, her hair was too dishevelled to do anything, but she decided to scrape it back of her face into a knot at the back of her neck. She reapplied her eyeliner and her concealer and her lipstick. It wasn't perfect, but she didn't look like she had been up half the past two nights.

Finally, she breathed again gathered her mental sanity in one place and then walked through the doors to Sikowitz's classroom.

"Ah Jade" their teacher said sardonically from where he was shaking something in a jar again. "So glad you could join us, is Tori gracing us with her presence as well?"

Jade gritted her teeth, not trusting herself to speak she shrugged.

Sikowitz rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to directing Robbie and Andre who were on the stage. Jade felt sick. All of these people were carrying on as if nothing had happened. As if Tori hadn't been raped and Jade wasn't keeping the secret inside of her feeling it slowly erode away her insides.

"Hey" came a whisper behind her and she jumped, honest to God jumped. She turned around and saw Beck that same dimpled smile on his face that made her want to crawl into his lap and let him hold her until this nightmare faded.

If this was how she was feeling how the hell was Tori still functioning.

"I was worried about you why didn't you tell me you were sick or something I would have come over. Watched all the SAW movies and cheered you up"

Jade tried to smile. She really did.

"Twenty-Four-hour thing" she said finally turning her back on her boyfriend.

Thank God Sikowitz chose that moment to make them all watch the next exercise. Jade wasn't sure how long she could keep this up. And that was before they had lunch together and she had to pretend that Tori was off sick and would be in soon.

How she managed to get through her English Lit and Lyrical Writing Class she honestly wasn't sure, nor was she sure how she ended up sitting next to Beck at their usual table staring at the salad that was in front of her. Cat was chattering with Robbie and laughing every so often and Andre had engaged Beck in a conversation about the latest movie franchise that was out. Jade bent to grab her bag and then started. All of her books were still there. She had been in such a daze she'd forgotten to go to her locker today. She bit her lip feeling the rising panic reaching dangerous levels when there was the for once-brilliantly distracting screech that came from Trina Vega.

"West"

"What?" she said through her teeth. She didn't have patience to deal with Trina on a good day and not while her little sister was curled up on Jade's couch terrified of leaving and still covered in bruises and cuts.

"So, when is my sister coming home, I don't get how the hell she ended up with you. She texts my Mom to say she was spending the night and I was like, how the hell did you both come down with the same bug when you don't even like each other, did you eat something at that Showcase thing the other night? I need to know because my completion is too delicate to be around sick people right now"

Jade closed her eyes and felt Beck slide his hand down, so it was on her knee in what she knew was his way of support. God, she loved this man.

"I don't know" she said finally.

"Tori's sick?"

Oh, fuck that was Andre. She forced her eyes open and hated herself for looking a good man in the eyes and lying to him about the woman that he was so clearly in love with.

"Yes" she said finally.

Once upon a time she might have been proud of the way her voice didn't break and how her gaze didn't waver as she told the biggest lie of her life so far. Only now she just felt sick.

And then the worst thing that could possibly happen, happened at that moment.

Ryder Daniels was walking through the courtyard.

He looked like nothing had happened, like he was still the golden boy that everyone loved. He was chatting and laughing as if he hadn't a clue, as if he hadn't raped someone.

Jade had always imagined she'd be angry at him but instead she just felt a freezing terror pinning her to her seat. And then suddenly she had to go, she had to get away from him, she had to move.

"Move" she said pushing Trina aside and then she was running down the courtyard steps through the corridors of the school and out through the front door until she hit the entrance of the school and she threw her merger lunch up.

She kept retching until she weak at the knees.

"Jade" came a voice to her left and it was Beck his hands pulling her hair back not in the least fazed by what had just happened. And Jade turned into the warmth of his chest and buried her face there and pretended for a second that Beck Oliver could protect her from the world.

"I need to go home" she said finally.

"Ok, I get it you're sick, you want me to drive you?"

Jade shook her head concentrating on breathing in Beck's scent.

"I love you" she said quietly. "Whatever happens I love you so much it hurts sometimes"

Beck kissed her hair. "I love you too West" he said grinning down at her.

"Jade West?"

She pulled back turning to see two older people there watching them. The man was balding slightly and the woman had short cropped dark hair. Had this been anything other than panic inducing to Jade's already shot to shit nerves she would have laughed at seeing her own SVU detectives Benson and Stabler standing in front of her.

Because she knew who these people were and what they wanted from her.

Somehow, someway the police knew.

She felt Beck stiffen next to her.

"Yes" she said finally realising they were waiting for her to speak.

"My name is Detective Anna Rayis and this is Detective James Alexander can we speak with you for a minute?"

"What about?" Beck asked before Jade could speak and she wanted to kick him for being overprotective and hug him for it all at the same time.

Jade closed her eyes and waited for the bombshell to drop.

"Oh, it's nothing really. Just someone thought they saw a strange man lurking in Jade's neighbourhood and called us in, and considering that she's underage we decided to start with her"

Jade honestly didn't know whether or not it was a genius excuse of a crap one, but Beck raised an eyebrow and then smartly kept his mouth shut. She would have to make an excuse sooner or later, but this was passable she supposed.

"Err yeah" she turned to Beck "I was gonna mention it but to be honest all I heard was Mrs Morgan shouting that she was gonna hose someone down, so I slept through it"

Beck snorted kissed her on the head and then winced. "Shit" he muttered. Jade knew what he was worried about and she smiled and this time it was easy to block out the two detectives waiting behind her and focus on her boyfriend and that look of panic and frustration etched across his beautiful face. There was a pause where he stood there, and Jade tried to commit it to memory, his face before she went down the rabbit hole once before.

Then Beck turned and was gone.

Jade took a deep breath and then turned around. She was Jade West, and she had done nothing wrong.

"Ok" she said finally.

"How did you find me?" she asked taking a step down the steps towards the car park.

"Hospital camera" Detective Alexander said, and Jade nodded. She tried to keep calm though her heart seemed to be raising again and again and she had to bite down on her lip hard in order to stop herself from spilling the secrets that were hers. There was a pause where she stood there leaning against her car and then Detective Alexander spoke.

"Look Jade we don't want to get you into any trouble, but we need the name of your friend. She could be hurt, and this guy could still be out there"

Jade shook her head.

"I…I've been trying to get her to come forwards, but she doesn't want to"

"Ok honey" the woman said holding her hands out in a gesture of surrender.

"But perhaps that's something we could change, if you give us her name we can talk to her, convince her to take this to trial"

Jade raised an eyebrow and rubbed her hand over her face. She shook her head finally. She might want Tori to go to court, to see Ryder punished (though Jade wouldn't say no to anybody who wanted him to throw him face down into the Pacific and not let him up) she wouldn't betray the trust that this woman that she admired (even if it pained her to admit it) had placed in her that night she had rang Jade for help.

"No" she said finally. "Look, she trusts me…I can tell her that you know and all but…but she's adamant"

"Jade this man could do this again to another girl"

Jade paused. Detective Alexander was right, Ryder could do this to another girl and this would be on her and Tori, wouldn't it? Would it?

Fuck. She really did have no clue what she was doing did she?

But would Ryder do this again? There had never been any evidence that he had done this in the first place. No student had ever come forwards. Ryder was a pig that was common knowledge but…this was Hollywood Arts if he had raped someone before then surely someone would have found out?

God, she could feel the tears coming again, she wanted to turn back time and convince Tori not to do that song, to be there when Ryder opened the door and started this mess, to be there when Tori had first gone out with him.

She felt Detective Rayis touch her on her arm and Jade wanted to curl into the embrace and cry but instead she bit her lip, forced herself to stand up straighter and quashed the strangled cry that was rising again.

"She doesn't want to press charges" she said finally. "I want her too, I know she should but it's complicated…she thinks it's her fault and…if I bring you too her she will shut me out and I don't wanna do that so no…but…I can tell her you know…if that helps"

"It doesn't" Detective Alexander said under his breath though it was perfectly audible. Detective Rayis shot him a look, looked herself as if she was about to argue the point with Jade and then finally sighed.

"Jade if your friend has disclosed to you then she might struggle…and you…you shouldn't have to manage all of this on your own. Looking after yourself is important too. So, here's my card you and this friend of yours think about what you wanna do…and when she's ready you call me morning or night ok?"

Jade nodded, it was such a kind act she didn't know what to do. She couldn't remember the last time someone had been like that with her…almost like a parent.

"Ok" she said finally. "I'm gonna go now"

She managed to drive out the parking lot but got too the nearest safe place to stop that was somewhat private and then finally the so invincible, so terrifying Jade West, broke down into tears.

* * *

 **Next Chapter-As Tori goes back to school for the first time and Jade continues to feel more pressure to help Tori, Andre begins to realize that something is wrong with the woman he loves **


	6. War Of Nerves

**Hi, so here is another chapter, there are only a couple more chapters until we get to the big part of this story. The next chapter will have a little bit of violence so please be aware.**

 **I will probably wait until Christmas for my next update and do a mass one of two or three chapters as I have a workload for uni that will take up a lot of time, I promise however some really brilliant chapters in return for your patience.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine**

 **Also if you wondering at what Tori is doing in terms of her dealing with the situation I believe that it's called 'Pink Clouding' it's a term first used I think on Law and Order SVU but I might be mistaken and it means that Tori is essentially ignoring her own emotions in order to try and pretend that she is fine.**

 **Next chapter we will go more in Tori's mindset, I think perhaps only two more chapters with Tori and Jade as main points of view (plus someone new) and then we move to other characters.**

 **Also if you are wondering at Tori' and Jade's new hairstyle, Jade is just back as she was in Season 1 and Tori's hair is that of Nina Dobrev's short hair.**

 **Trigger Warnings for rape and some distressing descriptions and some language.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 6-War Of Nerves

As Tori goes back to school for the first time (debuting a drastic new look) Jade continues to feel more pressure to help Tori-and without the support of Beck begins to feel trapped herself-Meanwhile Andre begins to realise that something isn't right with the woman that he loves.

* * *

Jade only just staggered through the front door when she realised that the house was too quiet and that her pair of scissors were gone from the table. They had been the kind Cat had gotten her for her birthday last year and for a second she could hardly breathe. Because Tori must somehow have those scissors and then Jade was halfway up the stairs before she could even realise that she might be on the verge of a panic attack.

She all but kicked open the door of her room and then all but collapsed on the floor because there sat Tori staring at herself in the mirror and around her sat locks of her dark hair. The new cut that she had horribly done herself had ended shortly where her shoulder blades were and the back was jagged. Tori must have simply hacked away pieces of her hair until it had all gone and wow that was gonna be a nightmare Jade dimly registered-to get off the carpet.

"Fuck me" she said finally and fear had manged to make her more honest and perhaps more harsh than ever before. "I thought you'd gone and offed yourself"

Tori stared at her and then smiled brightly and there was something off with that smile. "I decided to cut my hair," she said and Jade would have almost been confused had she not almost had a heart attack in her own bedroom.

"Well you didn't do a good job of it," she said not intending it to be as harsh as it seemed but the comment seemed to wash over her friend and she stood up smiling. She had changed into an old pair of Jade's jeans and the bathroom smelt of Jade's own vanilla and coconut bath products. Tori must have taken another bath.

"Well let's go out and get it fixed then" she said smiling.

It wasn't what Jade had in mind to be sure and to be honest this whole pretending everything was fine thing that Tori was doing was beginning to creep her out a little but she wasn't stupid. Tori had to know that the police were looking for her and she had to know that Ryder was back at school pretending everything was ok. If that meant that the girl had to get a new haircut then a new haircut it was. Jade had gone dark at the start of the New Year but she was thinking perhaps she should strip it back to her natural brown again or highlight the end bits again. God knows she could do with a rebirth as well.

Tori was moving surprisingly well. She was hardly wincing in pain and she sat down in the passenger seat comfortably, unlike the night pervious where she had still bene in shock and half passed out on the seat. This…this was unnerving, more unnerving than anything Jade had seen before if she was being honest.

If she was the right kind of woman she would have left Tori in this mood for a while. However, Jade was never the kind of woman who could do a thing like that. So instead, she decided to talk.

"So Ryder is back at school, pretending like nothing is happening" she said finally. Tori didn't so much as flinch.

"Oh" she said and her voice was very small.

"And the police know we were at the hospital, they caught me on camera. Not you and I didn't tell them anything but…but they wanna talk to you, I was told you didn't have to press charges, they just wanna, they wanna stop Ryder before he does this to anyone else"

"You think he will rape anyone else?" Tori asked and her voice was a horrible forced calm that Jade never wanted to hear again in her entire life.

"Yes" she said finally forcing herself not to look at Tori and then to cap of a horrible week end up with them crashing on the freeway.

"I doubt it," Tori said finally. "No other girl but me is stupid enough to go up there and humiliate him like that."

Jade gritted her teeth. She didn't want to say or do anything to make Tori feel uncomfortable but she didn't understand how Tori could blame herself for this. Perhaps she would never understand how Tori could think that this was anyone's fault other than Ryder Daniels. But that didn't change Jade's personal opinion. She honestly believed that Ryder would do this again because even though she was still unsure of whether or not there were any other girls before Tori she was sure Tori would not be the last. She didn't know how she knew that or why she felt that she just knew that she did.

Tori didn't say anything.

"He wiped…when he was done he wiped himself…in my hair" she said finally and didn't say anything again all the while Jade felt the urge to bash someone's (Ryder Daniels) head against her dashboard.

They drove to the hair salon and she watched while the hairdresser layered Tori's hair so that it hung around her face prettily. It came to her shoulders just when it was done and Jade could see how it framed her cheekbones and made her even more stunning. Had the situation not been so sad Jade would have felt irritated that Tori still looked stunning but instead she decided to sit back in the chair and wash the hair dye out of her hair.

The piece of paper with the detectives number scrawled on remained in the pocket in her wallet forgotten for a moment.

* * *

Tori had gone home that night, steadfastly not looked at the stain in the living room where she was still convinced she could see something in the carpet. Jade had cleaned away the material mess but Tori doubted she could do anything about the emotional mess.

Trina was sat at the kitchen counter when she got in eating pizza and the sight of her new sister's haircut was enough to make her drop the slice on top of the box and gaze at her. Tori would have been offended but she was too tired and too close to tears again to feel anything but a bone deep exhaustion and the need therefore to not deal with her sister's shit.

"Fuck me what the hell did you do that for? Your hair was one of the only things that made you pretty?"

Exactly Tori thought to herself. She wanted to do this so that she could fade into the background. She wanted to stay quiet for a time until she could think clearly without bursting into tears. She wanted to curl up into a little ball and hide under the covers and pretend that she could just disappear. One part of her even had the wild idea of confessing to Trina and letting her big sister take her in her arms and hug her until the nightmare that was this day, this hour, this very minute stop even for a second.

Instead she forced her lips back in a smile that felt so false it hurt and flicked the end of her now short hair back so it tucked behind her ears. "I fancied a change" she said finally. Trina looked at her for a second and then snorted. "Ok" she said finally. "Take a slice of pizza if you want and we can watch a movie"

Tori dithered. She wanted a moment with her sister, these moments of peace where they were just Tori and Trina and there was nobody and nothing that could come between them but instead she settled for once slice of pizza and a compromise that would take her out of this god-awful room.

"Do you mind if we watch it in my room? Kinda feel like a night under the covers"

Trina stared at her for a second longer than what Tori felt was normally her sisters timed interest in anyone other than herself and then much to Tori's relief nodded. "Yeah if that's what you want. Hey cause Mom and Dad are out…again…do you wanna grab a drink, I was gonna get a shot of something cause it's been a horrible week what with everyone still talking about you instead of me but I can't seem to find the tequila"

Tori staggered at little the grip on the plate that she was holding one slice of pizza that she thought that she could stomach nearly slipped out of her hand. She caught herself just in time but she forced herself to straighten up and smile again even though her heart was thumping against her ribs with a loud thud that was so strong she almost fell over.

"I don't know" she said finally and she knew that she was lying to her big sister but she couldn't help but not turn to look at her because despite Trina being self-absorbed and selfish on a good day she knew that her sister was capable of reading her like a book and would know that something was up. Instead she forced herself to stare at the wall while she heard her sister rummaging around in the alcohol cabinet in order to find something to drink.

"I'm ok" she said finally. "If you wanna drink then that's fine but I don't"

Trina snorted but closed the cabinet and Tori slowly forced her aching legs up the stairs hoping against hope that they watched a soppy movie that Trina wouldn't question her about when she inevitably ended up crying.

The next day Tori woke up staring at her body critically in the mirror that she had in her bathroom. The hand print on her ribs was slowly turning yellow and the bruise under her eye was almost gone only needing a couple of finger touch ups of concealer and her now short hair gave her a new look. She had straightened it the previous night and now her hair came to just under the chin and framed her face nicely.

She owed Jade a lot more than she could ever repay her for, for the last two days and she knew that the only way that she could ever repay her for it was to take Ryder to court. Jade had never so much as said anything to her that meant that her help came with a catch but she could tell that her now best friend was struggling with the decision that came with Tori's decision to not tell anyone what had happened.

It was different for Jade however she knew. Jade had a different relationship with her father than Tori had with her. Jade's relationship with her father resembled the one that Tori had with her mother, cold and difficult with a view that she didn't want to be an involved parent. Tori's dad had always been there for her and Tori didn't know how to stand up in court and tell her father that she had laid there frozen on the floor of their living room and been violated and broken and hurt.

She didn't know how to stand up in court and tell someone what it was like when Ryder had forced his way inside of her and held her down with that smug look on his face like he expected her to know why this was happening and Tori got the message loud and clear. And she knew that she wasn't going to manage alone, but she also knew that she wasn't sure if she could survive a trial.

For once it seemed like she knew what she was going to do. She was going to keep her mouth shut, change her hair and her room and her music, focus on her work and then maybe one day she could forget about this whole ugly situation and move on.

She was pretty sure that there was something in Law and Order SVU about that but it was so long since she had watched that show that she was unsure. And now there was the police on her back and she wasn't sure if she was strong enough to do this alone but she wasn't sure if she could force herself to tell anyone else.

There was a pause where she stood there in front of the mirror and then brushed back her hair twisting one short strand into a plat so it was pulled back from her hair. She used her foundation and her concealer so that the bruising was gone and then she dressed in her comfiest pair of jeans and her old red jumper that had one stain on the elbow but was so threadbare and big she felt safe wrapped in the folds of wool. Finally, she forced her boots on and grabbed her jacket and scarf and took a deep breath.

To anyone else she would have looked like a normal school kid on the way to school after a week off with a cold. She suspected that anyone other than Jade might look at her and not look twice.

Trina was driving and Tori had never been so grateful that her sister could talk about herself until her last breath. It was easy to force herself to drink the coffee she had taken from the pot in the kitchen with trembling hands that she could blame on the cold and not from walking across the carpet from where she had been…from where she had been attacked and she forced herself to walk across the carpet again and through the door and she didn't breathe again until the car door was safely locked behind her.

And now she was feeling like a stranger in her own home and that didn't sit right with her at all. In fact, all of this was sitting in her stomach like it was an iron ball curling around all of her inner organs.

She made it to her locker and took out her books and it was when she felt someone coming up behind her that she flinched and fell back against the lockers as if she was preparing to duck a punch.

But it was Andre who was standing there behind her beaming that smile that used to make Tori feel…almost desired by someone. Tori wanted to smile back because even though he was so close that she was struggling to see a way around him, his smile still made her breath a little bit easier.

"Hey" he said and she took another breath and another and another and found that when he was standing in front of her protecting her from the avid eyes or the avid thoughts of the students that were milling around unaware of what had happened after the concert days ago. She smiled at Andre because he could read her better than Trina and unlike her sister he would not let up until he knew what was wrong and wouldn't know how to deal with the situation other than killing Ryder and Tori could never allow that to happen.

"Hello" she said finally forcing herself to speak. Andre smiled at her the corner of his eyes crinkling and Tori looked at him and felt for the first time since that night a sense of security. Oh she was still deeply uncomfortable but Andre was Andre and Tori knew that he would rather take on in the chest rather than hurt her.

"Nice haircut" he said grinning. "Never thought I'd see you go short"

The bell rang then and Tori jumped without warning. Andre grabbed her by the waist to steady her and the touch was enough to have her skittering backwards into her locker desperate to get away.

And then she saw Ryder Daniels walking through the hallway and then to her shock she saw him wink in her direction. Suddenly she could feel the bile rising up in her throat and she ducked down to avoid looking at him her hands suddenly shaking. She curled them into fists in order to keep control of herself and she forced herself to blink back the tears that were forming again. She wanted to kick herself she really did. Here she was promising herself that she could move past this and have a fresh start and yet she was dissolving into tears and filled with fear every time she heard a locker slam shut.

She forced herself to look up to Andre and pretend that nothing had happened even though she knew she was lying to him. Had she looked at him, had she really looked at him, past her own misery and fear she would have seen the look of concern on his face, the look of panic that had just crossed a now brunette Jade's face born of concern for her and in the former cases love for her that had sprung up from a group of students taking a chance on the new girl at their school who might soon test their friendships with the hardest test that they would ever face.

* * *

 **Next Chapter-As Trina notices that something is wrong with her sister, a confrontation with Ryder sees her, Jade and Tori in danger and a deadly secret coming to light. Because hell hath no fury than a big sister whose sees her baby sister hurt.**

 **And let me know what you think. **


	7. Lashing Out

**Hi, so here is another chapter, this does contain sensitive material and is entirely in the point of view of Trina. I do not conform to the general belief that Trina doesn't care about anyone but herself as is shown here so please keep that in mind.**

 **I expect there to be at least one more chapter posted with this one before Christmas so please let me know what you think.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

 **Trigger Warnings-Mentions of rape, language and some potentially triggering thoughts.**

 **And here we go.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 7-Lashing Out.

As Trina notices that something is wrong with her sister, a confrontation with Ryder sees her, Jade and Tori in danger and a deadly secret coming to light. Because hell hath no fury than a big sister whose sees her baby sister hurt.

* * *

Contrary to whatever you might think, see or believe Alexandrina 'Trina' Vega was not stupid. She might be loud and crass and occasionally not pay attention to petty and stupid things like…school…occasionally. But she was not stupid when it came to the things that mattered. And one of those things that mattered, that mattered more than she had once ever thought possible was her baby sister.

Who was hurting in a way that Trina had never seen before.

She didn't comment on it because she wasn't sure what she was commenting on. Tori was quiet, refused to spend most of her time in the Living Room unless she was forced to, she ate sparingly whenever she was down in the kitchen escaping to her room whenever she had a chance to and more to the point in the past week and a half Trina hadn't seen her sister pick up a single song book.

And then there was this new-found friendship with Jade West and that quite frankly was the most distressing clue that something was wrong. Not that they were friends, no Trina had got her head around that somehow, Jade and Tori had always had some kind of peace to their group otherwise they'd have killed each other months ago but…but now they were inseparable. Not to mention the hair thing, Tori's had gone down to her collarbone and Jade's had gone browner taking away some of the edge to her and giving her a softer look.

Honestly Trina couldn't understand where this friendship was coming from and judging by the looks that both Beck and Andre kept giving the two girls she was more than pleased to notice that she was not the only one thinking that something must have happened.

She had thought more than once about mentioning it to her sister. Why her songbook was still closed, and she had stopped volunteering for plays and why she was now spending most of her time in jeans and old jumpers that a month ago she would have probably thrown in the garbage.

But Trina couldn't understand where it was coming from, in the course of one night her sister seemed to have become a completely different person and she couldn't understand what had caused something like this to happen, and she had an inkling that she should have a bit of the groundwork in place before she did something stupid like go and confront her sister about what was so clearly wrong.

And it was obviously going to be her that did it. Their mother was around when they needed her (like when they'd get cold because the bills wouldn't be paid) but she had long ago given up any pretence of motherly talks with her two daughters and Trina guessed that she would be no help. Probably she didn't know what was going on or she had chalked it down to something to do with Tori's time of the month.

And she really couldn't have this conversation with her father because even thought Trina trusted her Dad a hell of a lot more than she trusted her Mom there was no way that her Dad would want to have a conversation about Tori's feelings without knowing the full picture.

All of this left Trina more than a little desperate for a drink from the liquor cabinet but that was strange too. The vodka was half drunk (and she was betting that was Jade because she knew the girl was no stranger to hard liquor) and the tequila was gone, and not just drunk…gone…and there had been a good three quarters of the bottle left the last time Trina had seen it. That just left the brandy, and no way was Trina touching that without a good reason.

* * *

She was still thinking about it when she came out of the bathroom on Tuesday a full two weeks after the class project where her sister had given a wonderful smackdown to the school's womaniser to see him standing by her locker. Trina paused. She had no clue why Ryder Daniels wanted to speak to her. She wasn't in any of his classes and more to the point after what he had done to Tori (and ok so she had found out about it after the whole show but before Tori went home) she found she had very little interest in him period.

In fact, from this angle with all she knew about him…he wasn't even that good looking.

But still he was leaning against her locker and probably messing up all her lipstick that she had decorated her locker with. She moved so that he could see her in plain view but even the look of disgust and distain that she knew was etched across her face he still wouldn't move.

"What do you want Daniels?" she asked in a vain attempt to move him away from her locker.

"Did you speak to your sister at all about the night of our performance?"

"Yes, I did, and she told me all about it" Trina said not really knowing just what the hell he was on about. She supposed he must mean did she know about his behaviour before or after the concert, she noted with wry disgust that he was still calling it their performance as if he had, had something to do with it.

God, he was a complete and utter smug bastard, wasn't he?

"She told you about it?" Ryder echoed in disbelief finally moving off her locker, so Trina could wrench the door open and grab her textbook.

"Yes, she did, so can you please move"

"Is that why she and West are being so pally?"

"Probably" she said trying not to gag on the scent of his over-applied cologne which was as cheap as it was drenching him and the air around him. Good Lord, was it her or did it even smell cheap?

"And what? Your ok with it? You understand it?"

What the fuck was he on about. Feeling irritated not the least bit annoyed and by now probably running late Trina slammed the locker door shoot with a satisfyingly loud bang and then she turned to face him trying to stay polite and not make a scene even though she so desperately wanted to.

"You hurt my sister Ryder and even though you seem to be walking around like it doesn't matter I promise you one day everyone will know what a true piece of scum you are and this slight snag you've got when it comes to picking up girls right now will be nothing when it comes to what will happen one day"

And with that she turned and walked away and much to her satisfaction she imagined she left Ryder Daniels stunned into silence. The boy at the end of the line of lockers winked at her and she smiled back, today was shaping up to be a good day.

(Good God if Trina knew that it wasn't…if she knew that what she had said had put in place a deadly chain of events that would collide tonight she never would have said any of it…but then again…she didn't)

* * *

That night Trina climbed the stairs to her bedroom thinking hard. Jade West was round again as she had been nearly every night this week and she had taken Tori to the kitchen in the pretence of making coffee and the two of them had begun their whispered conversations again.

Trina didn't hear much of their conversation, but she was struggling to figure out what was so important for her sister that she would turn to Jade of all people. Even with her new hairstyle curled slightly at the edge and Jade's white streaks back in place both looked pale, both had dark circles under their eyes and Jade looked torn while her sister nowadays looked…defeated almost.

Trina considered this over a bite of the omelette she had made for dinner. Her father was out working and her Mom was once again drinking in bars in LA with her friends trying to desperately prove that she was younger and prettier than both of her teenage daughters and it seemed that neither Jade nor Tori wanted to eat so she had fried herself some eggs, stolen the last of the salmon in the fridge and retreated to her room to think, even in the background the TV in her room playing what sounded like the next episode of some teen runway show couldn't distract her from the feeling that despite the brave face her baby sister was putting on-something was really, really wrong with her.

She was still pondering this when she fell asleep curled in her bed safe and warm what with the rain crashing down around the house. She didn't hear the doorbell ring, or hear Jade open the door to let whoever it was in the house and she didn't hear the first utterances of conversation. In fact if you'd have asked Trina-and no that wasn't a rhetorical question because she was in fact asked about it later-the first time she had any inkling that someone was in the house with her sister and her now new best friend was when she heard the sound of what sounded like glass shattering.

She padded down the stairs dressed only in her sleep shorts and an old hoody and then paused on the stairs hiding in the shadows watching.

Ryder Daniels was holding a piece of glass from the mirror he had just thrown their grandmother's vase into with a look of manic desperation on his face. She paused watching, Jade was white to the lips but resolute standing in front of her sister who had all but collapsed on the floor curled into a ball her now short hair covering her face.

Ryder let out a manically laugh and then as if he was completing a sentence that he had had started before he had decided to go mad and punch the mirror-or whatever it was had done he spoke.

"I don't believe it Vega, your spreading rumours to that ugly sister of yours telling her lies about me and you"

Jade spluttered with something that sounded and looked very much like incoherent rage. She shook her head but she was stuck where she was stood due to the large piece of glass that was pointed at her but she managed a sneer worthy of the name and then uttered the words that blew apart Trina's life.

"Lies? You bastard, she got one over on you and you raped her!"

Tori let out a little flinch at that and Trina had to grip onto the banister in order to keep her legs from falling.

Rape. Her baby sister had been raped. She gagged and then forced the bile and vomit back down again, she could deal with her own emotions later, right now she knew she had to think and try and stay calm and get Jade and Tori out of this danger.

But mixed in with the sick feeling of helplessness was the rage that just kept building and building and it was that that added the fuel to the fire that got Trina to turn round the corner and stare directly into Ryder Daniels.

"You did what?"

And too be honest she was rather impressed by the level of anger…of the level of the cold fury that she could possess in her body. If felt like her whole skin was on fire and she managed to bit down the urge to throw the nearest pot plant at Ryder's head rather well she thought, it was like her brain had detached from her body and she also knew the only way that she was ever getting out of this situation without getting arrested was if she remained calm and didn't look at her sister, if she saw Tori in pain then this was going to get worse.

Rapidly.

Ryder stared, Jade leaped backwards as they took her in and Trina took that distraction to start down the stairs so that she was in front of Jade.

"You did what?" she asked again.

Ryder looked between the three of them and then laughed once.

"The three of you are as bad as each other" he said breathing heavily and then he threw the shard of glass at them. It narrowly missed hitting Jade in the eye, it grazed her head as it was flung and then Ryder was gone, Tori was crying, Jade had half sunk to her knees next to her, her own face white as chalk and her hands shaking violently and Trina felt like she really was going to be sick.

"It's ok" she said dropping to her knees. Tori was still sobbing and Trina pulled her baby sister into her lap again and rocked her back and forth all the while Tori clung to her. It seemed whatever big emotions she was holding back had been forced loose by seeing Ryder again and in an afterthought Trina reached out and tucked a hand on Jade's shoulder whose dark hair was hiding her face but who she could tell was exhausted.

"It's gonna be ok Tori"

Jade snorted once but thankfully didn't comment.

"When did this happen?" she asked. It seemed safer to ask Jade as Tori was still sniffing into her hoodie.

"Night of the concert" Jade replied lifelessly. "She rang me straight after and I took her to hospital"

Jesus fucking Christ no wonder Jade and Tori had become so close.

"Anyone else know?"

Jade shook her head and Trina was almost surprised.

"Not even Beck?" she mouthed.

Jade's face crumpled and she rapidly turned her face to the side as she shook her head.

"So there's a rape kit done" Trina said more to herself as Tori seemed to be finally calming down. "Did you tell the police?"

Silence.

"Jade!"

"Look at her!" Jade hissed back. "I've been trying the best I can Trina but I don't know what to do, two detectives gave me their card but I don't know how I can convince her to report this…look at her…"

Her voice cracked again and she had to look away. Trina nodded trying to make sense of this.

"Ok" she said finally. She would apologise to Jade later she knew but right now Tori had finished crying and Trina knew that she for once had to be the adult in the room. And she had a feeling she knew why Tori didn't want to come forwards. Their father had taught them to always fight back, their mother spent hours preaching about girl power and all that and Trina was willing to bet that Tori had frozen in order to get hurt as minimal as possible. She could appreciate why Jade hadn't understood but at the same time she whole heartedly did.

"Tori I know why you didn't want to report this but you have too now you understand? He knows that we all know and it's not gonna stop, for your safety and Jade's and mine and all the other girls that this monster could hurt we need to go to the police tonight, all three of us"

She shot another look at Jade who was still deathly white but who nodded.

"I'm gonna call Beck when I'm down there and tell him" she said quietly. "I love you Tori I do and I want to help you but Trina's right and I cannot do this without him any longer, you need your friends, Ryder deserves to rot for what he did and we will back you every step of the way"

Tori sobbed again, she seemed to be coming out of her shock and when she looked up at Trina her eyes were a bit more focused.

"Can you come with me?" she whispered and Trina had to blink back her own tears hugging her sister closer. It wouldn't do for both of them to fall apart.

"Wild horses wouldn't drag me from your side sis" she said finally. "Jade can ring Beck and I'm sure he can let your friends know and I will help you find a way to tell Mom and Dad"

Tori shuddered again and Trina rocked her again her hand coming out to touch Jade's shoulder pulling her in so that the three of them were hugging a little all of them crying weather it be heavily or softly. All three of them trying to figure out where to go from here and how there lives which seemed so bright and full of possibilities weeks ago had come to this.

"Come on" Jade said finally. "Trina do you want me to drive?"

"Yes" Tori said before Trina could speak, she curled around her sister again and both Trina and Jade took that to mean that she didn't want to leave Trina's side. Jade nodded and then stood up. She was wearing dark jeans under her dark coat and her make up was gone, with her hair natural Trina got a full look at just how young Jade was underneath all her bravado and she had to bit back another wave of tears. Jade had become embroiled in something due to the need to help her friend regardless of the toll it had taken on her. While it must have been hell for Tori to see Ryder every day she supposed it must have been the same for Jade but unable to tell anyone why. Both girls had been trapped.

She helped her shivering sister to her feet, Jade threw her, her house keys and they were off, Trina still in her pyjama's, Tori in her loose sweats and her thick jumper and Jade in her jeans and they staggered towards the car.

Jade and Tori went on ahead the former perhaps realising that Trina needed a minute and as she locked the door she realised that her hands were trembling. She leaned her head against the door and breathed once more least she start lashing out again.

Raped. Her baby sister had been raped.

"Trina" it was Jade. Tactfully for once the girl didn't comment on the fact that Trina was crying. Instead she waited for Trina to pull herself together.

"Ok" Trina said finally.

"Ok, let's go"

And with that she followed Jade up the drive, to the car in the vain attempt that she might help her sister through one of the hardest things that she would ever have to do.

* * *

 **And there we have it. The next chapter should be posted with this one and will contain Beck and an outside character's perspective**

 **Next Chapter-Tori makes a confession to more than one person, Jade takes a step forwards and Beck Oliver is about to get the shock of his life**


	8. Jade And Beck

**Hi, so here is another chapter-this one will probably be the last before Christmas and New Year but here it is and i promise you there is some action next chapter.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

 **Trigger Warnings for Language, Violence and Rape.**

 **And i wish you all a very Merry and safe Christmas and a happy 2018**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 8-Jade And Beck

Tori makes a confession to more than one person, Jade takes a step forwards and Beck Oliver is about to get the shock of his life

* * *

Detective James Alexander had just sat down with a new mug of shitty coffee and was considering if he needed to reach for the aspirin that was hiding under his retirement plan in his draw when he heard footsteps behind him and a cautious voice.

"Detective Alexander?"

He turned around to see a girl with dark hair and streaks-well it was lighter now than he remembered but he knew who it was sure enough.

"Miss West" he said standing up.

"What can I do for you?"

Jade West looked around her eyes wide for a second and her hands a trembling mess. James suddenly hoped she hadn't drove here and if she had she had manged to not leave the car unlocked or in park.

"You said to come find you when my friend was ready to talk and…well…"

"Is she ready?" he asked getting to his feet. Anna was out sick so that just left him and his Captain and he had no choice but to do this interview himself.

"Yeah err…I…he came round" she said twisting her hands again.

James sighed. It was not uncommon if the rapist was someone you knew and it was why he wished they had gotten this girl-whoever she was to talk sooner-but he supposed that now was better than never. They had a partial rape kit after all and they had taken cases to trial with less.

"Ok" he said finally. "But Jade you know that now we need to know who she is, if she's in danger…"

"She's coming in with her sister now" Jade said flatly.

God this kid looked defeated. James had two daughters himself and it was always the hardest part of this job he thought, seeing your kids in other people's kids.

"Captain" he called and his boss Captain Malcom Keaton came out of his office. He was an older man, tall, skinny and a fading hairline and he had been on this job since James had been there and that must be pushing at least ten years.

"Captain this is Jade West" he introduced her. Thankfully his boss was more on the ball today and understood that this was in reference to the case that he and Anna had been desperate to follow up on.

Jade managed a small smile but she turned around and James looked past her to see a brunette girl leading another brunette girl through the bullpen. They were clearly sisters and they were linking hands. James supposed there was no way he was going to get one to interview without the other.

"Tori" Jade said to the smaller girl who was looking exhausted and broken beyond her years.

"This is Detective Alexander, remember?"

"Hey Tori" he said trying to put her at ease. Tori managed to give a small smile and then her eyes filled with tears and she looked away.

Her sister however held out her free hand.

"Detective Alexander I am Trina Vega, I'm Tori's sister"

"Hello Trina" he said shaking it

"Wait" The Captain said cutting through the conversation. "Did you just say Vega? As in…David Vega?"

"Yes" it came from Tori this time and she looked at James with such a defeated expression that he felt his heart crack for her.

"Our father is Detective David Vega. Now do you get why I couldn't come and talk to you?"

Oh shit.

He caught the Captain's expression and had to look away.

No way was this bastard getting away with hurting the kid of one of his own.

* * *

The Detective had led Tori and Trina into a side room and Jade hadn't been asked to go with them. In all honestly, she was too tired too.

The Captain smiled at her.

"Shall we go into my office Jade and have a coffee? You can run through what happened tonight and before that"

Jade nodded feeling like she was going to cry. She took of her coat when she walked in and sat on the couch that was in the small cramped office.

The Captain made her a coffee and she took a sip wincing at the taste. He smiled at her.

"Sorry, sugar for the shock you know"

She nodded.

"Jade I want you to know that you are perfectly free to call anyone you want right now ok? Would you like me to do that for you? Call your Mom or Dad before we get started?"

She shook her head. Her Mom had been gone long before she had even gone to High School and her Dad the last she had heard from him was in Japan on a business trip.

"Beck" she said feeling tears come to her eyes. "My boyfriend, can you ring him? I'd do it myself but…" she wiped her eyes and the Captain smiled at her gently passing her a tissue.

"Write down Beck's number and I'll call him for you, when he get's here I'm gonna need a statement about the rape, the trip to the hospital and whatever happened here tonight do you understand that?"

Jade nodded feeling exhausted, she had never in her entire life been as emotionally drained as she had felt now.

She just wanted Beck.

God she hoped he could forgive her for lying to him-she thought her heart might break irreversibly if he didn't understand.

* * *

Beck Oliver had been sat in his trailer reading a slightly battered and very old copy of Harry Potter. He kept them under his bed in a small pile and only Jade knew of them. She liked to tease him about it but to be honest with herself and with him as well there were moments when the two of them would sit and read together, they would do their homework together and then curl up in bed together. It hadn't all been about the sex with them. It had often been about the moments spent together clutching each other and trying to make a little world for themselves inside the RV.

It was there that he was when his phone rang. He scrambled around for it wondering if it was Jade. He hoped it was. She had been…strange recently. He couldn't put his finger on it. She had dyed her hair from it's black back to it's natural brown and while he personally thought that was better than the black she had changed it too he was surprised. She had stopped volunteering for plays and she was barely speaking to him spending most of her time glued to Tori like a shadow. Once upon a time when the two girls were arguing like cats and dogs and Beck would have constantly defended himself to his panicked girlfriend.

Now there was none of that and for the life of him he couldn't understand why. Jade and Tori were not natural friends despite him and Andre trying. He had thought about ringing his friend considering Andre was a besotted sod who knew all about Tori (and seriously if Beck had to have one more conversation about how Tori's new short hair and how it framed her face and made her look even more beautiful-Beck was seriously going to have to seriously contemplate murder) but now his phone was ringing and he had no idea where he had put it.

He found it eventually under the bed and scrambled to ring before the number dropped. It was an unknown number but he put it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Is this a Mr Beck Oliver?"

"Speaking"

"Boyfriend of Jade West?"

Beck started. What the hell was this? If this was Jade's idea of a joke he was going to serious not sleep with her for like…well a day or so (he had poor control around Jade-seriously look at her)

"Yes"

"Mr Oliver my name is Captain Malcom Keaton with the Sex Crimes Unit of the LAPD. Now I want you to remain calm and drive safely, I have Jade here in my office, she's alright but she's demanding to speak to you before she gives a statement"

Beck felt the phone drop out of his hand for a second and it fell upon the bed. He picked it up once he heard the Captain's voice through the phone. If you'd have asked him there and then what he had been thinking about he honestly couldn't have told you, in fact it seemed like his whole brain had gone white with fog and a roaring in his ears that he couldn't understand.

He picked up the phone again only when he could hear yelling coming out of the phone. He picked it back up again and got the end of his name, he forced himself to speak.

"Yeah" he said finally.

"Beck she is fine, ok, she's not the one that was assaulted or…im pretty sure she wasn't but I need you to come down and help her talk to us. Jade is adamant that she wont unless you are there."

"Ok" he said as the Captain rattled off the address. "Ok I'm coming as soon as I can. Can…err…can you tell her that. That I'm coming?"

"Yes of course I can" the Captain said in a soothing voice. "And Beck…if your driving please do so carefully"

Beck nodded and then hung up the phone.

Thank god he had not took of his clothes yet. His jeans were still on and he found his belt where he had discarded it and his shirt was over the chair in the corner. He managed to find his boots and then he was out down the path and into the car before he'd remembered to tell his parents he was going out…well…they were used to the teenage rebellion from him, they thought Jade was a part of it after all and he had been with her now for nigh on three years.

He knew his way to the LAPD prescient by note. His parents had been one of those people who had insisted he know where all of the Emergency Services were least there ever become a time when he needed them and he was without a phone or a charger. Realistically Beck knew that would never happen but his parents were one of those old couples that had had their child-their only child late and he knew that they worried about him more because of that.

He got to the prescient in ten minutes. The nice cop at the desk pointed him in direction of the Captain's office and the door opened before he could open it himself and he saw Jade sat in the corner looking so utterly defeated that it just hurt.

He turned and to his surprise he saw in one of the interrogation rooms Tori and Trina.

What the hell was going on?

"Beck?" came a voice. He turned to see the man that he supposed was the Captain, he opened the door and then he could see Jade pale on the couch.

"My name is Captain Keaton I rang you" he ushered Beck into the room and then Jade was there. She had been crying and when he came into the room she stood up and all but threw himself into his arms.

Beck took a moment to savour the fact that it was Jade in his arms and that she looked relatively unhurt before he sat them back down. Jade was crying now in earnest and nothing scared Beck more because Jade was not a woman to cry unless…well…Beck didn't think he had ever seen Jade cry before.

He sat down on the couch and let her cry it out for what seemed like minutes. Jade was not a woman to be overcome by a sentimental moment and this was surprisingly not like her whatsoever so he waited for her to pull herself together with what seemed like a superhuman effort.

Jade finished and wiped her eyes leaning her head against his shoulders and closing her eyes for a second. Beck took in the dark circles under her eyes and the tears clinging to her eyelashes and felt his grip tighten on their interlocked fingers.

"Ok Jade" the Captain said sitting down. "Now that Beck's here I want you to tell me what happened, about the rape"

"Rape?!" Beck shouted he turned wildly to Jade because he needed some sort of confirmation that he hadn't been stupid enough to not see…that she…that the only girl he had ever loved had been…

Jade took his chin in her hand "No" she said firmly with such conviction that Beck had to believe her "Not me" she shook her head.

"Tori" she said finally.

Beck covered his mouth with his other hand, Jade let out a small noise and then turned to the Captain.

"Ryder Daniels raped Tori the night of the concert where she sang a song to humiliate him, she rang me afterwards and I told her she needed to go to the hospital but she refused to speak to the police. Then a few hours ago he turned up and…Trina found out, he smashed a vase and threatened us and…" she shook her head and then completely ignoring the Captain she turned to Beck who was still trying so desperately to process what he had just heard.

"I'm sorry" she said finally. "I'm sorry Beck I wanted to tell you I did but…Tori was so desperate that nobody found out and I didn't know what to do" and then she burst into tears again and it was all Beck could do not to go and find Ryder and beat him until he was a bloody mess.

Instead he choose to wrap his arms around his sobbing girlfriends.

There was a moment where he rocked her back and forth, Jade kept apologising but for what Beck couldn't understand. She was not the one that had done anything wrong, he could understand why she had kept it a secret, she had done so for Tori and know he was looking back on things it did kind of make sense, the friendship that had come overnight from nowhere, the way Jade would stiffen whenever she saw Ryder in the hallways and the way Tori was constantly stiff, the way that they had been…it all made sense.

He rocked Jade back and forth gritting his teeth. The Captain patted him on the knee. "I'm gonna go and grab you both some fresh coffee, why don't the two of you stay here for a while and calm down and then we'll begin a statement, the DA's probably gonna want to speak to you as well Jade and then we can see what we can do going forwards ok?"

Jade nodded her hands clawing on his back, Beck nodded his head at the Captain and he nodded back. He opened the door and slid outside and Beck watched him go. He realised suddenly why he had left them along and it was not because Jade was realising all of her fears that had been building up since this whole thing had started. He had slipped out of the door because David Vega had just walked into the prescient.

Beck turned around and then shifted his body so that Jade was protected from sight. They could deal with Tori's parents later, right now he had to deal with Jade.

"It's ok sweetheart" he said into her hair though he knew that was a lie.

"Don't leave Beck" Jade said finally her tears finally stopping and Beck snorted into her hair wondering what the hell they were going to do know, how they were going to move forwards and then finally the thought of how this girl could ever think that he would leave her when his life had been so intricately linked with her from the get go.

"Never" Beck said finally. He pressed another kiss into the hair of the only girl that he had ever loved.

"Never"

* * *

 **Next Chapter-Tori must make a decision about weather or not she will press charges, Beck, Jade and Trina prepare to break the news to the rest of the gang and Andre helps Tori with the most difficult decision of her life.**

 **And let me know what you think i will try and update as soon as i am able. **


	9. A Little Help

**Hi, here is another chapter and this one finally sets the tone for next couple of chapters.**

 **Trigger Warnings to anyone affected-rape and some offensive language.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing within this story is mine, just the detectives.**

 **Please Read and Review and let me know what you think.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 9-A Little Help

Tori must make a decision about whether or not she will press charges. Beck, Jade and Trina meanwhile prepare to break the news to the rest of the gang and Andre in the aftermath helps Tori make the most difficult decision in her life.

* * *

It was odd really, how detached your brain could become while people were still talking to you. It really was. Looking back even months later Tori could honestly say she had never heard a word of that conversation. She had been staring out the window while they had pulled her Dad (her Mom away on some other spa day) into a room and told him. In fact her first moment of that she had seen her father or even known he was here was by a shout and a bang in the other room and Trina who had refused to leave her side, simply sighed again and reached out to that the two of them were holding hands.

He wasn't in the room with them now. Jade wasn't in the room with them now. The detective…James she thought his name was, was talking to her but Tori was watching the birds out of the barred windows and thinking hard. For the first time in weeks it no longer felt hard to breath. For once she felt like she could speak without feeling like her throat was clogged with broken glass and she could look around without seeing the dim fog that her world had become since the attack.

But she had since sat in front of someone who didn't judge her or blame her. Tori had explained in detail that she had egged Ryder on that she had humiliated him and therefore surely that must factor into the investigation? Her sister had said a very rude word to that and a few things about Ryder and his mother that were perhaps best to remain unknown. Detective Alexander shushed her politely but Tori could read the man easily enough and she knew that he was amused by her sister and not at all in the mood to contradict her.

So there they were at this point. As far as she could tell Beck had arrived which meant he knew, they had took Jade's statement and then Tori now had to make a decision apparently. They were all waiting for her to speak, her sister, the detective, her Dad probably considering she knew he was on the other side of the glass.

Trina touched her hand. "Tori did you hear what James said?"

Since when were they allowed to call him James? Was that some kind of thing where victims didn't have to feel frightened? Wow she had spaced out of this interview hadn't she.

She turned to face him. The detective (because calling him James was a bit too much at this point) was smiling at her and Tori tried to smile back but she was too tired…of what she didn't know but she was too tired.

"Yeah" she said finally. "Sorry"

"It's ok, I was just wondering would you like our ADA to come down and discuss what's gonna happen next? Then we can begin gathering our facts for a trial with your permission"

Tori blinked. A trial? She didn't want a trial? Did she? A trial meant that she would have to stand up in front of everyone and tell them what had happened, she was more than sure her name would be dragged through the mud and she had no doubt that Ryder would play dirty, every relationship she had ever had with a man would be fair game and more to the point it would be out in the open, Daniel…that whole scenario with Cat…

And she wanted a career in the arts, she wanted to sing and act and dance again and she knew that if this went to trial there was a chance that with her life coming through the courts they might not want her.

But she knew that there would have to be some sort of reckoning to get Ryder to stop. Could she see him every day knowing what had happened? Could she watch him graduate? The thought of that made her sick to her stomach but the thought of a trial didn't help either.

"Can I think about it?" she asked finally. Trina raised an eyebrow next to her but Detective Alexander didn't so much as flinch. He might have expected this anyway.

"I will warn you Tori that if you choose not to testify then there is very little we can do. The more time this takes the harder it will be but yes, if you would like to discuss it with your family that will be fine, however the ADA might decide to press charges anyway so I don't want you to be caught unawares"

Tori nodded.

"This is my choice isn't it thought?" she asked. She didn't know why that mattered but it did, to look a man in the eye and ask him if she had a choice in what happened next but it did.

"Yes this is your choice, not even your Dad can make this for you. But Tori I should warn you, Ryder is a bad guy who might do this again if we don't stop him. I don't want to pressure you into doing anything that you might not be ready for but I do want you to take that under consideration"

And Tori did, that point hit home with her and she found herself nodding. She squeezed Trina's hand and her sister took another shaky breath.

"Is Jade outside" she asked suddenly.

"Yeah with her boyfriend"

"Can I see them?"

"Yeah" there was a rap on the glass window thing and he turned around. "I'm gonna go and update my Captain and your father ok? I'll send them both in"

Tori nodded. She gripped her sisters hand tighter.

"You're doing great sis" Trina said her hand ghosting down the side of Tori's arm as if she desperately wanted to hug her and Tori found that for the first time in a long time she wanted to be touched.

"You can hug me" she said turning to look her big sister in the face. "I promise you…I'm not gonna break"

Trina's face seemed to crumple but then she pulled herself together and then wrapped her arms around Tori as if she never wanted to let go and Tori found herself returning the hug. They were still hugging when the door opened and Jade and Beck came in the former looking exhausted and the later looking ashen. Both however managed small smiles when they saw her and Beck looked like he wanted to touch her but decided against it at the last minute instead interlocking his fingers with his girlfriend and doing a poor job (for an actor she thought) of hiding his emotions.

"Hey" Jade said. Her voice was back to it's normal self but the harshness was gone. The softness was gone too and somewhere she seemed to have found a contrast between being kind and being herself or maybe this was herself? Tori was too tired to pull the length on that thread however so she decided to just smile a little at Jade and hope the older girl didn't say anything that would make her suddenly burst into tears.

"Hey Tori" Beck said softly. "So…err…Jade and I are gonna go to…well…we were wondering if you wanted us to tell the rest of the group I mean if there…charging him…err…you might want to let them know before school starts tomorrow"

Tori nodded but in all honesty she didn't know what the hell she was going to do. Telling more people was surly just adding more fuel to the fire but she didn't know what to do…she did know however that the very thought of going through this alone again like she had done so far was almost as hard as speaking about what had happened.

"Will you tell them Beck?" she asked finally looking the older boy in the eye for the first time.

Beck seemed almost relieved to have something to do and he nodded.

"Ok I can do Tori…err, i'll get Robbie and Cat together and I can…well…Jade can I suppose I better be the one to tell Andre separately"

But Tori was hardly hearing him. To be honest she was hardly seeing or thinking or hearing or even feeling at all.

All she wanted to do was go home and sleep away the rest of her life until she could pretend that this hadn't happened to her and that she was still the same person she was before that.

How was she going to move past this and become…normal again? Was such a thing even possible? She closed her eyes and willed herself not to cry. It seemed like she had done so much of that lately it would be a miracle if she could ever shed tears again.

* * *

Beck had decided to do this at his place. Well he had decided to go to Andre's first. Jade had protested about being separated but Beck rightly pointed out that Cat and Robbie were more than likely to react with dismay and pain rather than Andre who would as Beck knew-knowing his friends rather volatile feelings for Tori he would respond with fury and the only person that could keep him calm or at the very least give him an alibi was Beck.

Instead he drove Jade to Cat's house having forced his fingers to work and text Robbie to meet them there. Jade clung to him before she went in and Beck hugged her back unable to comprehend in how many ways their lives were going to be blown apart by this. Come tomorrow he knew six very different teenagers were going to be standing with their sister and friend whatever her decision might be. And if Tori didn't press charges well…it was a good thing Jade knew so much about empty spaces of deserted land in LA.

He text Andre to meet him outside and that they needed to talk about Tori. This was not uncommon. Andre's grandmother made it very difficult to talk about anyone or anything and this was not something that needed an interruption.

Andre slid into the car and did a double take when he saw him. Beck supposed he must look like hell.

"Hey what's wrong you said this had something to do with Tori?"

Beck sighed and bizarrely a thought entered his head about how he was suddenly very glad that he had not bothered so much with updating the upholstery of his car which was something once upon a time he had considered. Somehow it would have been a shame-despite the circumstances-to see his car fall to rack and ruin. Instead he locked the doors and knew (and hated himself for it) that he was about to break the heart of one of his best friends.

"Andre, there's something you have to know"

* * *

There was a knock on the door and it was that and that alone that pulled Tori out of her thoughts. Trina had gone to the bathroom to have a shower (and Tori suspected a good cry) and then they were going to sit up and watch Harry Potter which they hadn't done since they were both to little. Her father had gone straight to the study to call her Mom and then he had been there for some time. Tori would have gone to him but she was honestly too tired to go through this again. In fact all she wanted to do was go to Trina's room where her sister had a DVD player and try and sleep away this entire nightmare.

It didn't work of course but what was the harm in trying anyway?

She paused. She was in the kitchen staring at the couch and trying to figure out if she would ever be comfortable in her living room again. Ryder had knocked both the night he had…both that night and the last one where he had held up the broken piece of vase and Jade had all but leapt in front of her even though Ryder had come very close to throwing her by her hair across the room.

But before she could dither there was a voice.

"Tori it's me Andre"

And then she opened the door.

Andre looked…he looked as wreaked as she felt and she had to look away least the concern in his eyes tip her over the edge. There had always been something else between Andre and her. Something that had made the line they shared as friends interesting because they both had feelings (or at least she thought he had) that would make it easy for them to tip over the edge of friendship into a passion that used to make her toes curl.

Fat chance of that now, she thought bitterly. Broken as she was.

"Beck told me" was all he said. "He's waiting in the car"

"You won't do anything?" she asked suddenly. The thought of Andre and Beck going over to Ryder's was enough to make her heart stop for another long dangerous beat.

"No" Andre said though the tone of his voice clearly indicated that both he and Beck would like to do that very much but had somehow found restraint.

"Look Beck and I…were gonna go…well hit something…not Ryder but something…and I wanted to tell you that…nothing is your fault here. I don't…I mean…shit…Tori, nothing is your fault and…I don't want to pressure you or anything but please, please press charges, if he's not behind bars I might kill him."

Tori wasn't sure if that was meant to be a joke or not but it made her smile all the same.

"You think I can go up there and tell the world what happened and not mind that people will think that song was a warning shot?"

"A…A what? That song had nothing to do with it Tori and you know it. It was Ryder all of it was Ryder and if you keep thinking that there was something in that heinous act that you contributed to then he will win and he will snuff out that fire in you and I don't think I could live with myself if that happened."

"Andre" she said looking up at him flatly. "I don't think I can do it"

Andre managed a small smile and then very slowly his hand reached out to graze her shoulder. Tori didn't flinch back, she had not flinched back with Beck either. It seemed she realised dimly that with some people, with some men that she trusted she could be around and breath around.

Andre she noted painfully was also the first man that touched her. Beck hadn't be able to, her Dad had clearly thought it would upset her and then here was Andre touching her, giving her time to pull away and then not reacting when she didn't so she could claim it herself as her own personal victory.

Damn, sometimes she wondered if her thoughts were really messed up because Tori had to admit that she was really breaking down mental barriers that she had put in place around Andre and not around anyone else.

"You think I can do this?" she said again. Andre nodded. "You are one of the strongest people I know"

"I'm tired" she said. Andre nodded but didn't say anything to counter that.

"I know" he said finally after a long pause.

"Ok" she said after an even longer pause. "Ok I'll do it…but Andre…" he looked at her then but Tori found that she couldn't look at him.

"Don't let me do this alone?"

If she'd have looked up then she would have seen the feelings that Andre had for her on his face, the love that had never changed despite all that had happened. She wouldn't see it again until much later but she thought that she couldn't bear it another second.

"I'm never gonna let you be alone Tori" he said finally. "Never."

Andre seemed to realise then that Tori was desperate to shut the door and retreat into her own house, to the comfort-as it was that was her sister.

"I'll go now."

"You can come over tomorrow. All of you…I mean I know you have school but afterwards, let's have a movie marathon, tell Robbie to bring all the Star Wars ones and Cat to bring all the snacks, I don't…I'm done being alone"

"Ok" Andre said finally. "But you know there'll be a row because Jade thinks you should watch them 1-6 and Robbie thinks you should watch the original ones first"

Tori shrugged. It sounded just like what she needed right now to be honest.

"And I think we'll all skip school" Andre said. "Beck isn't going in, he's gonna be with Jade, Robbie and Cat shouldn't take much convincing and I assume Trina wont either, let's let the shit hit the fan and then we can go back"

Tori nodded hardly hearing him. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah" Andre said and then he was gone.

"You Ok?" Trina asked, Tori hadn't seen or heard her sister come up behind her.

"I'm gonna press charges" she said still staring at Andre's retreating figure. Trina didn't say anything about the fact that it was Andre who changed her mind but she nodded.

"Ok, you wanna call them now?"

"Yeah" Better to do this before she chickened out.

Trina nodded. "I love you, you know, I know I don't show it but I do and I swear Tori If I could take your place right now…"

"I know" Tori said managing a small smile. "You don't mind If I sleep with you do you?"

Trina smiled, held out her hand as her answer and for once feeling lighter than she had done in weeks Tori took it and went up to bed cradling the knowledge that tomorrow she would have one last golden day of peace with her friends before she began the long and painful process of putting her rapist on trial.

* * *

 **Next Chapter-Tori and the gang spend a day together that becomes more and more awkward as the news that an arrest has been made hits both them and Hollywood Arts.**

 **And let me know what you think, with any luck the next update will be sooner rather than later. **


	10. To Tell The Truth

**Hi, so here finally is the next chapter, i apologise for the lateness but i had a horrible essay to do and then some problems with updating and fanfiction but here it is so please enjoy. I hope to never post as late as this again but there you are...**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine,**

 **Please Read and Review.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega

Chapter 10-To Tell The Truth

Tori and the gang spend a day together that becomes more and more awkward as the news that an arrest has been made hits both them and Hollywood Arts.

* * *

When Jade woke up she had a second of pure peace before she remembered. Whatever had happened between her boyfriend and the man who was in love with her very close friend, said boyfriend wouldn't tell her about but considering how Beck stormed into his RV and did nothing but lock himself in the bathroom for an hour before coming out with his emergency-emergency vodka that he had 'liberated' from a holiday with his family in Canada and snuck through customs. He poured himself a generous helping into a spare mug they kept for coffee before downing it in one and then pouring them both another splash.

"Fucking hell" he said finally.

Jade couldn't think of what to say to that and instead lay back on the bed thinking without thinking and seeing without seeing.

"She has to press charges" she said finally into the darkness. "I get why she doesn't I do but she has to because as God as my witness if I have to sit on this for another two years until we graduate I might just kill myself"

"Or Andre will kill him" Beck muttered. "You should have seen him when I told him I…" he trailed off and downed his vodka shuddering as he reached for the bottle. Jade noted but didn't know how to bring it up-that his hands were shaking clasped around the bottle.

"How did Robbie and Cat take the news?" Beck asked finally. Jade sighed clasping both of her hands together least she reach for him and never let him go.

"Not sure" she answered honestly. "Robbie got it that much I do know but he was more horrified than angry, I left him to explain it to Cat. She got something bad had happened but I didn't have the heart left to explain to her what rape was" she shook her head at the word.

"God it sounds so different when you say it and know someone"

"I took Andre to see her" Beck said quietly. Jade sat up but he cut across whatever she was going to say.

"He wasn't mad by that point, I think he just wanted to see her and he wasn't in any condition to drive I know that much. So I took him, he seemed calmer when he got in the car, he thinks she'll press charges"

Jade gave out a long sigh and then her phone chimed somewhere behind her she reached out, scrambling for the phone. Beck looked at her hollow eyed.

"Oh" she said in surprise. "It's Robbie, apparently Andre texted him and told him tomorrow Tori wants us all to go round and watch some movies while the police…" she swallowed. "Do what they gotta do he supposes. He wants to know if Star Wars is ok?"

Beck grunted, Jade took that as a yes and texted Robbie back. To be honest the thought of going into school tomorrow turned her stomach. A part of her wanted to be there for the sake of her friend when word got around of what Ryder had done and what he was but she also knew that a school full of teenagers and some of them Ryders friends and…the thought made her sick again…possible love interests was not the sort of place that she wanted to be when the shit hit the fan.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked finally.

Beck turned to face her.

"No, well yes I am, I'm mad you did this by yourself but I get why you did it and I won't be able to say that in your position I wouldn't have done the same thing but…I feel…" he paused and when he next spoke his voice was so calm and eerie that Jade felt a slither of fear slide down her spine.

"I look at you and I look at Tori and I think about what it must have been like, the suffering he put you both through, what it must have been like for Tori seeing him every day and what it was like when he…fucking hell Jade the bastard was terrorising you and I didn't know about it, he could have killed you that night he came round…he could have…" he trailed off and Jade swallowed.

"I know" she said finally because she did know. She knew intimately what it was that she had agreed with but she still couldn't get over the fact that it had happened. This was the sort of stuff you read online or watched in a Law and Order SVU episode. This was not the sort of thing that happened to you-or so it seemed.

Instead she decided to lie back down again.

"I'm sorry" she said finally.

"I know" Beck said heavily. "I'm not mad at you"

* * *

Jade reached out and Beck found her hand and the two of them locked fingers together.

Tori had sat down at the couch after she had forced herself to eat. Well she thought that she had ate quite a lot but Trina had frowned at her and tried to prod her to finish her lone piece of toast. She felt like she might never smile or laugh again and she knew that her appetite had suffered. She could almost feel herself get thinner and thinner and she still hadn't slept a full night.

Last night again she had gone to sleep in her own bed and she had woken up in the early hours of the morning and climbed into her sister's bed. Trina had been awake even if for Tori's sake she had pretended to be asleep and then her big sister had allowed Tori to cuddle next to her as the rain had fallen.

The doorbell rang and Tori started. Trina who was dressed casually in her comfiest jeans and jumper opened the door. Tori forced herself to look at her friends. Jade came in linked fingers with Beck, she smiled though it didn't reach her eyes and Tori found herself with open arms. She and Jade hugged for a long time and then when they let go, Jade perched down on the other side of the sofa, pulled Beck (who touched the side of Tori's arm in solidarity) Andre took the spare seat and didn't touch or look at her at all and Cat and Robbie dithered on the doorway as if unsure weather or not their presence was a good thing or a bad thing. Tori would have almost grinned at their complete and utter lack of subtilty had not everything hurt.

"Everyone knows so let's not pretend anymore" she said. Tori had never been one to beat around the bush anyway and now she saw no point. Beck's mouth tightened ever so much and she noted it away in the corner of her mind though to be honest she was too tired and too on edge, knowing what was about to happen. If all went to plan then the two detectives who promised her that they were on her side would be arresting her rapist today. Even now, weeks after the fact she still found the words a bitter pill to swallow.

"I was raped a week and a half ago by Ryder Daniels" she said carefully. Trina who had taken the seat next to her tightened her grip on her arm. Jade linked hands with her. Beck turned his face away working furiously to get his jaw muscles under control. Robbie flinched but looked horrified immediately after he realised that Tori had caught him doing it and Cat paused looking down her red hair framing her face and her hand caught in Robbie's

She didn't dare look at Andre. There had been too many looks between the two of them in the past for her to look at the boy that she once thought she could easily love when she explained what had happened to her.

"It's ok" she said continuing into the silence. "Because I have decided to press charges"

There was a breath of relief. Jade's whole body relaxed next to her, Robbie managed a small smile, her sister let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob but by the time Tori had turned her head to glance at her big sister Trina's face was perfectly smooth.

There was a pause where she peeked a look from under her eyelashes to see Andre staring at her for the briefest of moments. But before she could comment his eyes slid away and she looked down at her hands feeling without seeing her fingers twisting around themselves.

"Does anyone wanna ask me something?"

There was a stilted pause and then Robbie spoke.

"Are they gonna arrest him?"

"Today" Trina answered for him.

"And there'll be a trial?" Beck asked.

Tori nodded.

"What do you need from us then?" Robbie asked his hand curling around Cat's. Tori shrugged.

"She needs us to be here Rob" Andre said in a tired voice. He still wasn't looking at her.

Robbie nodded and fell silent. Tori leaned her head on Trina's shoulder. Already she was beginning to feel tired.

Cat crossed the room then and hugged her. It was the first thing that she had done since she had entered the house and Tori found herself returning the hug. It was one of the first forms of affection that she had found herself faced with. Trina and Jade had allowed throughout the past few weeks Tori to decided weather or not she wanted to be touched and none of the boys had come near her but she knew that that came despite all from a place of caring.

Cat hugged her and Tori hugged her back and then the red headed girl took her place next to Robbie as if nothing had happened.

"I'm sorry Ryder hurt you" Cat said quietly. Tori tried to say something back put the tears were threatening again. Privately she turned her head away, she wished this would stop, this constant need to go to tears whenever someone said anything to her that triggered an emotion. Seriously.

There was a pause where nobody spoke then Jade spoke up.

"Rob did you bring Star Wars?"

Robbie jumped and then nodded looking more than relived at something to do.

"And you know what?" Beck said with an effort. "As Rob loads Episode One…yeah Episode One, I am gonna order some pizza"

Tori took another breath but she realised that with her friends surrounding her she could breathe a lot more easily than she would have done if she had been on her own.

Perhaps this was a sign that things were looking up?

* * *

The craw for the first film was loading and Jade moved to grab some glasses with Trina. Something had formed between the two of them, a bond forged out of combination of increased terror whenever they thought of Ryder Daniels and that night he had come round and a combination of fierce protectiveness. They would talk about it one day or perhaps they would never talk. Jade West didn't know. She didn't care really. She just wanted to finally get a night's sleep.

Trina was reaching for glasses. Her hands were perfectly still but under her eyes were almost purple. She caught Jade's eyes and the two of them knew they were thinking the same thing-it had not been easy getting Tori to this stage. And both of them had known that it could have gone either way.

Trina's phone bleeped. She looked at the message and there was a second where they were just a briefest flicker of triumph on her face.

"My Dad" she said shortly. "They've arrested the bastard and hauled him in for questioning."

Jade nodded. Tori had told the truth today but there was always tomorrow. This was not over by a longshot she knew that for today they had made progress and perhaps she thought to herself one day, one day, they might be able to go back to normal.

Because now, right now, the nightmare had really begun.

* * *

 **Next Chapter-In which Jade and Andre both get into fights, the school is abuzz with rumours and Tori realises that simply making an arrest doesn't make the pain go away.**

 **And let me know what you think**


	11. The Price Of Justice

**Hi, so here is another chapter, i can only apologise for the lateness, uni work has been stressful at the minute and therefore a lot of work has been put on the backburner. However here is the latest chapter, the first Andre's point of view in this chapter and i hope it may continue. Also i have introduced a new character in this chapter as well. **

**Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

 **And let me know what you think.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 11-The Price of Justice

In which Beck, Robbie and Andre both get into fights, the school is abuzz with rumours, the boys gain an unlikely ally and bond over the women that they love each in their own different way. Meanwhile both Tori and Jade realise that simply making an arrest doesn't make the pain of what happened to them both go away.

* * *

When Andre Harris woke up that morning there was a split second, and endless second-or so it seemed, where he didn't have a clue what had happened to Tori Vega. There was in that second nothing other than being at peace with the world and he stared up at his ceiling feeling utterly calm. And then he turned over to face his desk so he could reach for his phone like he did every morning and then that was promptly when it all fell to shit.

Because that was when he remembered.

That Tori had been raped.

That the girl he had known was gone and some shell of her remained.

That the woman he loved had been hurt in the worst way possible.

And then it all came crashing down around him and there was the sick realisation that there was nothing that he could do about it.

It had been like this for three days and already Andre was itching to do something about it. The thought of not killing Ryder for what he had done was almost as bad as listening to Tori try and reason away his reprehensible behaviour with a comparison of her own.

And now he didn't know what to do. He wanted to help her he did, hell at this point Andre would do anything to go back to the night he wrote ''Begging on Your Knees" and just say no to Tori's demand. It wouldn't have done much good but at least he could confidently say that he had, had no part in creating a scenario where both Tori and (he assumed) Ryder felt like the latter's actions were somewhat justified.

The only good thing to come out of this thing was that she had allowed the police to press charges and the scum had been arrested. Of course, Andre suspected that either today or tomorrow the bastard would be let go (he could go into a whole metal tangent about race and the prison system but to be honest that wasn't good for anyone right about now) instead he forced his way out of bed, into the shower, dressed and into his car all without even bothering to check his phone.

He knew Tori wouldn't have text him because Tori wasn't texting anyone and he wasn't sure he wanted to see what the rumour mill was spouting. He reckoned privately that it was going to be a split. Tori was so popular because she was nice and talented and a lot of people liked her and knew her enough to know that she wouldn't make something like this up. Any girl that had been screwed over by Ryder would be on her side but Ryder was also popular and charming and good looking and he wasn't sure how many people he would charm into thinking that Tori was making all of this up to further humiliate him.

Either way he was glad that the bastard was still inside and Tori was still not coming back to school. He wasn't sure if he could handle any more drama today.

The bang on his window jerked him out of his thoughts in the parking lot. He opened the door to see Beck dressed in his overcoat looking as tired as Andre felt with Robbie who-God bless him had mercifully left Rex and was carrying instead three coffees.

"Where's Jade and Cat?" he asked. Beck's mouth twisted.

"Jade's down the station with Tori, now they've formally charged Ryder they want another statement about the night he tried to intimidate them, Trina was staying at home because her Mom is coming back tonight and I assume Cat's with her"

Robbie handed him the drink and Andre downed a mouthful without even thinking about the burn. He noticed that Robbie had, had the sense to have them add in another shot.

"Good" he said finally. "It gives us time to see how the situation lies"

"Most of them are on Tori's side" Robbie said quietly. "Most of the girls anyway. I think a lot of them know Ryder's a jerk capable of something like this, I think a couple of the football team as well though I don't know who, some of the drama boys but to be honest a lot of the male population here are on the fence, social media's been blowing up about this all night since Ryder got arrested, it didn't take long for the story to spread, Jamie Mitchell was at Ryder's house and he saw the whole thing go down. And I couldn't sleep" he added when he saw the expressions he was getting.

Andre took another mouthful of coffee and then a deep breath.

"Alright then" he said and he knew he was sounding like he was about to storm an impenetrable fortress. He wished not for the first time that he wasn't here, wasn't doing this, and he prayed that he could keep his temper in check.

Beck nodded flipping down his sunglasses. Robbie shifted from one foot to the other but Andre noticed he didn't go back for Rex. Maybe one thing to come out of this whole sobering debacle was that for once and for all the damn puppet would be left alone at home.

They walked in together. If it had been any other situation other than what they were faced with then Andre would have laughed out loud at how everybody turned to look at them as if they were the conquering heroes out of some shitty romance story.

They made it to the nearest locker-which was in fact Andre's when the trouble started. It was Alfie Michaels that started it. He was on the football team with Ryder Daniels and he was a close friend and he was watching Andre with a rather strange expression. Already he could feel his hands curling into fists.

"So Harris" he drawled finally as Beck slammed his locker door shut with enough force so that it nearly went off it's hinges. "It true then? What there saying about Ryder and Vega? Because if it is then I don't believe it. I've known Ryder since I was a freshman here, he's a bit of a player I wont deny that but he's no rapist"

"Oh it's true" Beck cut in which Andre was pleased about because he could already feel a migraine coming on and his temper rising and both at the same time he knew would not be pleasant for anyone directly in his path.

"We've seen Tori, you don't make that shit up"

Alfie scoffed. "Come on Beck, you sure this not a thing that she's concocted probably with that bitch of a girlfriend you have in order to drag Ryder through the mud? Not like either one of them haven't got form for screwing the male population of this school around"

There might have been more to his point but Alfie Michaels did not get to finish it because at that exact moment Andre had just stuck his fist in his face and had sent him sprawling to the floor. It was a good punch he registered dimly but he couldn't really think on more than that because he had Beck on side gripping his arm so tightly it would bruise later he just knew and Robbie on the other side watching with wide eyes and a strange look on his face.

They frogmarched Andre away between the two of them into Jade's janitor's closet sanctuary and then shut the door.

Robbie rustled around in his coat jacket and came out with a flask. Andre and Beck both stared at him as if he had just suggested they strip naked and start a conga. Andre shrugged. "It's gin and tonic-the pre-mixed cans, my parents don't drink remember I have to rely on either my big brother or Rex"

Andre didn't even ask what it meant that Rex was supplying booze-he was a puppet for crying out loud-but he did take a swig from the flask and past it to Beck who took two.

"You shouldn't have done that" Beck said finally. "You knew it was gonna be hard, this is High School Andre of course there were gonna be people that doubted her, doesn't mean you get to punch them"

Andre shrugged.

Robbie sat on top of one of the counters. "You got any classes with any of the football team today? All I got is math and musical comprehensive writing and I think I've only got Jack Broker in that class and he's always a decent bloke."

Beck dug around for his timetable on his phone. "Just math with you Rob, your right, Jack Broker is a decent guy maybe I'll have a word, not all of that team believe Ryder's god"

"I shouldn't have written that song for her" Andre said suddenly. Beck and Robbie both fell silent. "I should have told her not to do it, to get him back some other way and instead I wrote her a song filled with anger because I was angry at him, I was jealous of him because I love her you know"

It was the first time he had ever said that out loud.

"I love her and he had the chance to be with her and he blew it and I wrote that song half-crazed with anger and jealously and then he attacked her and hurt her in the worst way possible and I don't know how to tell her it's my fault"

There was a pregnant pause.

"Jade told me" Beck said suddenly "That Tori blamed herself, yeah" he said without humour when he caught sight of Robbie's appalled expression. "That's why she kept it a secret, she wanted to deal with it herself. And Jade tried, I mean my God Jade tried to help her but there was nothing she could do to convince Tori that she wasn't to blame for this, and I sat there and watched Jade, my girlfriend, the love of my life sit there and slowly drive herself mad wondering how she was gonna help Tori. And the truth of the matter is, is that a part of me is angry that she didn't come to me, I might not have gotten Tori to press charges, but I would have damn well sorted him out"

He took another vicious swig out of the flask.

"Do you think…do you think it will ever get back to normal?" Robbie asked carefully. "I mean, yesterday when we were all watching the movies and me and Jade were rowing about the order of the films and I thought that it was almost normal. I know it's strange because it wasn't but I thought honestly that it was normal for a second, the six of us-well seven if you count Trina were sat there watching movies with cocoa and it was like nothing had ever happened and then I walked Cat back to the car and it hit the both of us again so I took her home and we curled up in her bed all night trying to be normal"

Andre shot Beck a knowing look. The relationship between Cat and Robbie had they both knew for many years been in the grey area. Neither one of them had ever said they were in a relationship and both Beck and Andre had never asked them if they were despite the rumours. But it was these moments right there that made them both wonder what was happening. Cat and Robbie were close friends, and only Robbie seemed to understand the complete rhetoric that was Cat Valentine. Even Jade had trouble sometimes. Nobody knew where they were in terms of a relationship. They hadn't asked. Robbie after all was entitled to his privacy but sometime soon they both knew they had to ask.

"If this goes to trial" Beck said heavily ignoring Robbie's almost unanswerable question. "Then we are all gonna have to be cross-examined or at the very least watch it. Tori, Ryder, Trina, Jade…" he bit his lip.

There was a knock at the door, Beck sat up and nearly dropped the flask he was holding. Despite Jade's many demands this door was not lockable but when it opened it was the last person that they had expected to see.

Sikowitz stared at them with what looked like a rather fond look though it was masked by something serious.

"I thought I'd find the three of you here. Andre, Lane wants to see you apparently you punched a football player. Beck, Robbie I go suggest you get yourselves some coffee and sober up, though I won't ask what's in that flask that Beck is hiding under his coat" at this point Beck looked rather sheepish.

"And I expect all three of you to be in my class with your improv dialogues ready for marking in an hour." He dithered on the doorstep.

"Also, I suppose as a teacher I am not supposed to take sides but I assume Michaels. Implied that Tori lied about Ryder Daniels"

He rolled his eyes at their expressions. "We had a conversation about it in the Staff Room, you think that a pupil can be arrested without us knowing about it? Anyway…Andre did you hit him hard?"

"Err…yeah…and yeah he was talking shit about Tori…and Jade"

Sikowitz looked behind him as if he half expected a teacher to come leaping out of the woodwork.

"Good man" was all he said before he shut the door.

Andre blinked.

"Were would we be without Sikowitz?" Robbie asked laughing "The man might be insane but he's honest about it"

Even Andre couldn't hide his smile.

* * *

"What do you mean he's been granted bail?" Jade asked. Her tone had been borderline hysteria but she didn't care. She was sat in the precinct. Tori and Trina on one side and David Vega and Cat on the other.

"Jade" Captain Keaton said quietly. "This was always a possibility. Ryder has no prior incidents, no criminal record and I should tell you that there are order of protection's out on both you and Tori"

Jade, Tori and Trina all looked at David Vega in unison.

"That means" the man said. "That Ryder cannot go near either one of you without breaking his bail, if he does that then he's inside and he wont come out until his trial."

Tori snorted once. "Is this the right thing Dad? Really?"

David Vega crossed the room half on top of Jade to do it and then knelt down in front of Tori.

"Yes" he said firmly. "This is the right thing to do, Tori I promise you"

Jade wanted to say that it wouldn't be if Ryder got off but she decided not to. Both of the Vega girls looked as if they desperately needed some kind of assurance. Cat took her hand. The redhead had been unnaturally quiet, her hair scrapped upwards in a high pony tail and Jade bit her lip wishing that it was Beck by her side. She didn't feel any animosity towards Cat in the slightest but she did wish that it was Beck who understood her with a look that was with her when she had leant this piece of information.

"So what now?" she asked.

Captain Keaton turned to stare at her for a second. "We take him to trial" he said simply. "We go over all your statements, the medical information we get ready, and we try and win this thing and David" he turned to Tori's father. "I promise you that we will do our best to win this thing"

Jade tuned out what was being said next and instead took a breath. She felt someone else gazing at her and she turned to see Tori watching her with those eyes that seemed to speak of…not pain…not this time but of something that Jade felt that only she could understand. After all it was her that Tori had called that night.

But It was looking at Tori that made Jade wonder if this was really the price that you paid for coming forwards and telling your story and if this was really the price that was paid for justice. And if it was, was it worth paying?

Either way neither one of them had much say in the matter now.

Jade gritted her teeth thought about how Ryder Daniels had looked when he had come round that night Trina had found out and straightened herself as if she was beginning a desperate battle to go to war. She would do this for her friend and for the other girls out there that Ryder or men like Ryder had hurt in the past. She met Trina's eye more than Tori's this time and they both knew that they were both thinking the same thing.

If they wanted to cross examine Jade West and Tori Vega, to make them feel ashamed of something that was in no way their fault, then so help them. They had one hell of a battle coming their way.

* * *

 **Next Chapter-As Tori returns to school, lines are drawn and trial preparations begin. Meanwhile Trina meets someone new in a moment of weakness and Tori's mother makes a surprise return with a surprise view of events. **

**And i will try and update as soon as i can. **


	12. Standing Up

**Hi, so here is another chapter, but first a little note before...**

 **I am smack bang in the middle of my exams and therefore I will try and do another update for you all however if not then I wont be updating until after May. However it will be a multiple update so therefore lots of chapters.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine in his chapter only the newly introduced characters that are seen in this chapter.**

 **Again Trigger Warnings.**

 **Please read and review.**

 **And to everyone doing exams or revising for them I wish you good luck.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 12-Standing Up

As Tori returns to school the lines are drawn and trial preparations begin. Meanwhile Trina meets someone new in a moment of weakness and Tori's mother makes a return from her holiday.

* * *

The day that Tori woke up and decided that this was the day that she was going back to school was a fairly ordinary day. The sky was a dull grey and it was over cloudy.

For Tori it was a personal victory. It was the first time that she had spent the whole night in her own bed. She had not had a single nightmare and she had not woken up immediately gasping for air. Today it seemed was a good day. She could go into school, not sit any lessons and listen to the Principal tell her what was going on. She could also see what the reaction was going to be. Jade had refused to go back the day the boys had and she had heard nothing from Beck or Robbie or even Andre as they had gone back.

She had to admit that she was a little hurt by the latter's silence. Andre in particular she had always been close to, for the love of all that was good in this world Tori had been half in love with him since before this whole…mess started. She had thought that perhaps…well that was stupid of her wasn't it? Andre was a good looking man and had a talent that Tori didn't have and she supposed was now a free agent. He could date whomever he wanted and not waste his time on a damaged girl who didn't know if she could ever be intimate with a man again.

Instead she decided to get up for once and have a shower. Her short hair was easy enough to style and she found a relatively clear pair of jeans with a nice jumper and her boots. She even found the time to apply a little bit of make-up and when she came downstairs to see if someone could give her a lift to school she knew she looked as normal as she had done the night she had sang the song that had started all of this.

Trina was making coffee. Her oldest sister shot a surprised look at her appearance and then covered her expression rather well. "Hi" she said with a smile. "You...err…you sure you wanna go back today?"

"It's a sit down with Principal Helen, Sikowitz and Lane to discuss what has happened, it's not a six hour day with two exams" Tori said deciding to focus on her coffee, the smell of it, the feel of the burn of it in her hand. It was getting easier to pretend that she couldn't smell tequila or feel Ryder pressing down on her when she had something to focus on she was finding.

Trina eyed her for a second and then decided to apparently continue with Tori's normal act and shrugged.

"Ok" was all she said. "But I'm gonna get Dad to take us. He wants to take you to your meeting with the ADA whose gonna have your case and then he can pick me up on the way back"

Tori took a sip of coffee. She never used to take it black but for some reason the thought of everything happening the way it used to didn't help. She wanted to change things. So she took another sip of the now bitter brew and didn't wince at the taste. Trina looked as if she wanted to say something but didn't. Tori noticed that her sister was now taking copious amounts of sugar in her own coffee.

"Mom's coming back tonight" Trina said quietly. Tori paused. The relationship between the two of them and their mother had never been easy especially when it had soon become clear that she would have to go back to work to pay for two kids in private school. Neither one of them had had the best of relationships with their mother and now even in this great moment of crisis she had insisted she finish the rest of her yoga retreat in Canada. Somehow Tori suspected that that didn't bode well for their relationship.

"Wonderful" was all she said in case their Dad was nearby or overhearing. Trina snorted a little into her coffee just as the man in question came down the stairs. He looked tired Tori noted, but she supposed finding out one child had been assaulted and the other had nearly been attacked in her own home by the same man holding half of your wife's mother's priceless china vase did take a bit of strain. But he still managed to find smiles for them both and Tori was relieved to see that despite all odds she was happy to see him. She was happy to have him on her side.

"Come on" he said taking them in. "Let's go see what the school has to say"

* * *

It wasn't that bad actually. Tori had known there would be whispers when she walked through the doors. There were no obviously hostile looks though. Jade had been leaning against her locker her now brown hair tied off her face scowling into her coffee cup and the sight of her once enemy turned friend acting as though nothing had changed gave Tori some form of courage she thought.

Jade took one look at the two of them and then stood up coming up to join them and sending a scowl so fierce to one girl who was staring at her that she spilled her water down herself.

"The boys have gone off to see Lane already, apparently Helen wants to speak to us all" she rolled her eyes but stayed by Tori's side as the four of them (her Dad included) walked through the hallways.

The boys and Cat were already there. Cat hugged her without thinking when she walked in and Tori took a moment to be surprised before she hugged back. Helen was sat at her desk her hands folded on top of the wood, Sikowitz and Lane behind her like some sort of squad. All three of them shook Tori's dad's hand and she noted that he was dressed and acting like a detective and not like a father right now.

"So Tori" Helen said sitting back down. "I've given this schools statement to the police and I have spoken to the board. This is just to have an informal chat with you and your friends about what's going to happen next and believe me I have already spoken to half of the football team who were Ryder's friends. With the Championship coming up they won't say anything-my threat to take them off the team was rather effective"

She blew some imaginary dust of her nails and Tori could tell she was proud of herself. Jade rolled her eyes.

"So what we've decided to do is suspend Ryder from school until the outcome of the trial but I should warn you, if he is acquitted he has requested that he come back to this school and the board have told us we can not stop him"

Tori nodded sitting back in her chair. She had expected that. To be honest considering how expensive all of Ryder's things were-and she had noticed that a long time ago, a sure sign of rich parents-she had all but been expecting him to walk the hallways this morning. There was a pause where she sat there and then Trina nudged her hand, Helen was still talking.

"Also I want to assure you that we will co-operate with the investigation and therefore we will be sending over Ryder's personal file and your own, also I have been told-and that is why I've called all of your friends in-that the six of you and Trina will be issued subpoenas for the Grand Jury that takes place later on this week and then the trial which I believe due to the influence of your father will take place this month"

Tori shot her Dad a look who was now currently very interested in the plaster.

"And that's why I wanted to speak to you. Tori if you wish to stay in class then you are more than welcome to, however if you would prefer to spend your time at home then we can arrange it so someone can send or bring you the work that you missed"

Tori nodded. She was unsure what she wanted to do. Helen however seemed to understand this because she nodded. "How about you take the rest of the week off and then when we are a bit more prepared on how things are going to go then we can speak further, Miss West, Mr Harris and Mr Oliver are all in your classes and therefore they can pick up your work"

She then turned to a sheet of paper on her desk and then looked back up at Tori.

"Also there's another reason why I wanted to see all of you in one room. I know that this upcoming investigation and trial will be difficult for all of you, however, I want to stress that this school does not tolerate violence towards another student and that includes not only what's happened to Tori but also punching, kicking, verbal matches with other students and the throwing of microphones or chairs"

Here she shot a look at Jade and then surprisingly Andre who both looked at their hands or the walls with innocent expressions. Tori repressed a grin, she felt like laughing-God what was wrong with her?

"So I would like to stress that Lane is here for you if you want to talk-but there will be no violence"

And at that point Tori tuned out of the meeting.

* * *

The LA ADA that would be in charge of her case was named ADA Jamie Sanfino. He was tall with dirty blonde hair with dimples and blue eyes and the kind of tan that would have made even Cat envious. He looked too young to be a lawyer with an impeccable record (or so her Dad kept telling her) and he looked like he had just popped out of his office in order to go for a quick surf, in fact if she was being honest she half expected to see a surfboard in his office.

He was the kind of man Tori would bet her life savings on everyone-including Jade (though she might deny it) would try to flirt with.

"So Tori" he said once they had been introduced to each other, her Dad on one side of her and him opposite his desk. He flashed her a dimpled smile.

"Here's how this is going to go, first were gonna call a Grand Jury investigation, you, Ryder, your sister and Jade West are all gonna tell your side of the stories and then there's a pretty strong chance we will get an indictment. That means as soon as possible we will go to trial and in that case then we begin preparing-now in these cases the defence does tend to get dirty, there gonna question you on your previous romances and your sex life prior to this so that's what we need to go over"

Tori nodded. That she had been aware of too, Trina it seemed had been watching a lot of Law and Order SVU over the past few days.

Jamie's eyes flickered over to her Dad.

"You want your Dad to step outside"

Tori shot a look to her father. He seemed to understand, kissed her on the head, muttered something about having a conversation with her mother and then disappeared.

She ran a hand through her now short hair and then nodded. Jamie pushed a glass of water in front of her and then smiled again.

"You ready?"

The truth was she wasn't. But it seemed she didn't have a choice.

Instead she nodded.

* * *

Trina had been sat in the auditorium. Right now it was the only place that she could sit and think and breathe on her own. Nobody seemed to know what the hell was going to happen next, nobody wanted to ask her anything and yet nobody wanted to confront her either which was a shame really because right now she was itching for a fight.

There was a movement behind her and she turned around her legs dangling of the side of the steps. It was Jack Broker. Trina knew him from her classes in French and Creative Writing. He was good looking she noticed, blonde with his hair shaved on the side and swept of his head, high cheekbones and blue eyes and full lips. She wondered why she had never noticed him before. Jack was a lot more of the behind the scenes guy than the spotlight one-he had gotten in via a script he had written over something which if rumour had it still made Sikowitz tear up to this day.

He was holding out a hip flask.

"It's vodka" he said cheerfully. "Cheep vodka but vodka and I thought you needed it. I mix it with tonic and drink it in the library when I'm on a break"

Trina took it and took a swig, it wasn't half bad. "I wonder if anyone knows that the amount of booze that goes on behind the doors of this school" she said quietly. "It's not drugs-at least not here"

Jack laughed "Oh I think there's a fair share of drugs-this is LA. I think booze is easier though before you go on and do a performance"

Trina snorted.

"I think your sister's being really brave" he said quietly. "And I believe her. A lot of girls do, a lot of them believe that Ryder doesn't understand what no would mean. It's the ones that need him-the football team that will suffer the most. And then the rest of them are just confused. This is a High School, half of the younger class men don't know what went on-half of them are confused…it's a shitty situation all round"

Trina nodded. "I wish…" she said finally. "I wish that there was something that I could do to help her…something I could do that would show the defence exactly what he is."

Jack looked down at his hands and Trina could see on his wrist the edges of black in his skin-a tattoo she noted swirling around something over his veins.

"If you wanted to look, I mean really look then I wouldn't look far" he said finally. "I would look at the other students." He turned to look at Trina. "You don't really think your sister was the only one? Maybe it was rape in some cases, maybe he beat them up, I don't know…but I can tell you…Tori's not an isolated incident"

Trina blinked and then something curled around her as she realised what he had said, some kind of powerful and dangerous emotion.

"Your saying…?"

"Nothing" Jack said with a fair of smile that didn't meet his pain filled eyes.

"I am saying nothing Katrina"

The use of her full name made Trina go still. Broker's eyes she realised, were really blue.

And then he was gone before Trina could call out for him.

"Wait" she said as he stopped at the door. "Are you saying you know another girl?"

Jack Broker stopped turned around and seemed to be on the brink of saying something before there was a look of pain embedded into his features. He covered it up well enough but not before she could see it.

Trina however, still didn't understand.

"See ya around Vega" he said tipping his fingers in a mock salute and then he was gone out the door leaving Trina sitting there and wondering for a long time what the hell was going on and what secrets lurked beneath those pretty blue eyes.

* * *

 **And there it is, let me know what you think.**

 **Next Chapter-As Trina attempts to find out more about the mysterious Jack Broker his connection to the case Is unveiled. Meanwhile Jade and Beck reach an impasse over her actions and Tori has a confrontation with her mother that tears her family apart and sends her spiraling to the one person she wants to look at her. **


	13. Lies Damn Lies

**Hi, so here is another chapter, as i said in the previous chapter this is part of a multiple update before i go on holiday. i hope you all enjoy and that your exams went well or are going well.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just the few OCs scattered around**

 **Note-This chapter does speak negatively of Tori's mother, nothing personal i just didn't like the character that much, i thought she was disinterested in her daughters at best and neglectful at worst so that's what i wrote into this chapter so please keep that in mind.**

 **Please read and review, there should be another chapter following this one.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega

Chapter 13-Lies Damn Lies

As Trina attempts to find out more the mysterious Jack Broker his connection to the case is unveiled. Meanwhile Jade and Beck reach an impasse over her actions and Tori has a confrontation with her mother that may tear her family apart for good and sends her spiralling to the one person she wants to look after her.

* * *

When Jack Broker climbed into his car after leaving the auditorium he took a deep breath and then realised he had left his flask in his locker. He did have two more lessons left but considering his record was generally alright and the school was all wrapped up in this Tori Vega drama he didn't really see them pressing down too much on his behaviour.

Instead he decided to go home. He was tired and he could feel a migraine coming on. He forced his tired and somewhat battered car into gear.

Home for Jack Broker had become something of a pipe dream. He and his sister had been thrown around the foster system throughout LA and it had been one meal ticket foster family after another until about four years ago when a social worker had suggested that his dancer sister tried out for Hollywood Arts. Jack had done the same…or really his sister had submitted some of his writings to the creative department of her school and Jack had gotten in. He had spent the entirety of his first two years at Hollywood Arts in the system and then after his sister had died…well there was a reason why he was know living at the home of an ADA who had apparently not taken to kindly to him using the courtroom to sleep in his car with.

Jamie Sanfino had probably saved his life come this winter. He and his husband had given Jack a room and a place to stay that was slowly becoming a home. And through his grief still raw and untamed he was seeing clearly at night and during the day when before he couldn't do anything. He was even managing his temper. Not killing the one person responsible for his sister death had taken some time and more than a little bit of vodka hidden under the bed but Jack had been dealing with it writing and on more than one occasion boxing.

That was until Tori Vega.

Jack had gotten the text message about Tori's accusations one morning when he had just got out the shower. He had been dripping wet and clutching a towel around his waist and the fury that had shot through his veins at seeing that message was enough to send his staggering right back to the bed his hands clenching into fists so tight he wasn't sure that he could unravel them.

For Jack Broker knew intimately that Tori Vega was telling the truth. The problem was he couldn't just say he knew. He had already let enough slip to Trina Vega this morning which was why he was dragging his already tired and exhausted body home to bed where he could think outside of the migraine that was steadily building.

He couldn't really tell his foster father about his connection to Ryder Daniels. There had been no proof other than his sisters say so that he had raped her and his sister had been unable to cope and had swallowed enough pills to ensure that she didn't. That had been part of the problem. Jack knew that there were more girls than Jess and Tori-hell half of the female population knew to give him a wide bearing but he was sure that there were more-Ryder's family were well connected and rich and there was more than one chance that they had paid victims to transfer and god only knows what else they had done.

Jack reached under his bed to find the file that he had kept. Time would tell weather or not he was right and weather or not he could trust Trina Vega with the information. It was clear that she was angry at the minute and she would be for a long time and in order to take on Ryder-fucking-Daniels you would need to be cool and calm for as long as it took. Of that Jack knew from bitter experience. Right now he knew that Trina Vega wasn't ready to hear the whole story. Which in all honestly was why he was kicking himself for even letting anything slip out. However, Jack had seen her look so defeated and alone and if that was what her sister looked like then how was Tori taking it? The very least that Jack Broker could do he thought to himself was not let Trina go through what he had been through and miss the signs that something was terribly wrong.

There was the sound of someone opening the door and Jack through the file to the floor and pasted on a smile. Jamie and Ross were both good to him and he wasn't going to through that away, but if he could get his revenge through Tori Vega then he was sure as hell gonna try and get it himself.

* * *

Jade had gone over to see Beck after the interview. In all fairness the ADA Jamie Sanfino had been very good but he had made it clear that even if the Prosecution wouldn't call her to the stand then the Defence would and Jade had to be prepared for a grilling on her own life, her relationship with Tori and if possible her own private life and Jade was not sure that she was ready for that.

Beck had spent most of his time in the RV and Jade slipped in to see him sat at the desk coffee in his hand. He didn't look up when she walked in and she realised that she was sick of the damn silent treatment that she had been getting. She understood that she had hurt him when she had not told him what was going on, she understood that he felt powerless in all of this but in all honesty, she wasn't feeling any better. She too felt powerless and she too felt hurt. Perhaps this was one of those blips that all couples went through. God she hoped that it wasn't anything serious because quite honestly Jade didn't know how to _be_ without Beck.

"Beck" She said deciding that perhaps it was best to grab the bull by the horns. "Beck are…do…do you still love me?"

Beck laughed once without humour. "Of course I do"

"Then what…what's the plan then because, you understand why I did what I did"

"Of course I do" Another humourless snort. Jade nodded feeling tears rise and she looked away. She was not some sort of drippy girl prone to tears whenever she broke a nail but the last couple of weeks had drained her in more ways than one.

"So here we are" she said sitting down and folding her legs under her. Beck came to sit next to her their legs bumping together. "Yeah" he said heavily. "A right impasse…I don't want to lose you Jade"

It was an olive branch, one that was extended to her and she took it leaning her head against his shoulder.

"I don't want to lose you too Beck" she said finally. This she had a feeling or perhaps it was blind hope-the first time in a long time that she had depended on something like that-that this might be the biggest thing that she would ever come across.

If they could survive this then they could survive anything.

Surely? Please.

* * *

It had been Trina's idea to go out for a run. Tori hadn't wanted to but she had been sick of moping around the house-the grief she found had given way to a sick but strong sense of anger and she found that she was done hiding herself.

So she forced her sneakers on and she decided to follow her sister on a run. Trina wasn't a dancer but a good runner and Tori was the opposite but she found that she pushed herself for nearly twice the size of Trina's normal run and she all but collapsed onto a nearest bit of grass that she could find breathing heavily. Trina grinned at her and Tori grinned back and she realised as they were walking back sweating and laughing at how they had managed to run that far and it wasn't until they got home that she had realised that she had been running and walking and chatting with her sister for nearly two hours and she had not thought about Ryder Daniels or what had happened, once.

That however was all going to change when she opened the front door to her home and caught her mother and her father in the middle of a blazing row.

Trina took her hand when she saw what they were doing. Her mom had a look on her face that Tori didn't like and she gripped her sisters hand tighter.

"Mom" she said and it was a measured word. Their mother had a contentious relationship with the both of them and that was putting it mildly. There was no doubt that in her own way that she had loved them but to be honest Tori was unsure how much. She had been far too much interested in herself than she ever truly had been in either one of them and the fact that her mother had not rushed back home from her retreat when Tori had so desperately needed her stung a little if she was being honest.

"Tori" her Mom said. She didn't approach her and Tori noted that with a painful lack of interest.

"Tori I err…I heard and your father and I have been talking and…I don't want you to press charges"

Trina started like a gun had gone off and her Dad scoffed. Tori didn't look at either of them.

"Mom, she was attacked. She was raped for fucks sake, why the hell shouldn't she press charges against the monster that did it?"

But Tori knew why. She looked at her mother and felt nothing, no warmth, no empathy, nothing. In fact there was almost a dark amusement rearing his ugly head.

Her mom shook her head. "Tori look, you know if you were raped then I want the man punished but please think, I know that the tequila is gone, I know that you and this boy had a relationship and I know that you humiliated him-are you sure this isn't some sort of prank, that's what his mother seems to think it is"

"You've spoken to his Mother" Tori said nodding to herself. She could see it without even being there for the conversation. There was a pause where she tried to consider the implications of what this meant for their mother daughter relationship. Instead she decided to let go of Trina's hand and reach for the car keys.

"Thanks Mom" she said finally. "Thanks for believing in me"

"Oh Tori that's not fair, can you not see that I am trying to protect you, think of your career if nothing else, you think any record label is going to go near you with this hanging over you"

Trina snarled under her breath. Tori closed her eyes for a long second and then opened them again and when she spoke it was with a voice of deceptive calm.

"I am going to go now and when I come back Mom I would really like it if you weren't here" she squeezed her sisters hand once and then slipped back out the door, into the car and had it on the freeway before anyone could react.

There was only one place that she wanted to go, only one person that know with this latest blow she wanted to speak to, the only man that she had ever loved and the one person that she had considered her deepest, dearest friend.

There was a pause where she stood there at the door and she took another deep breath. The door opened and standing there was Andre.

Tori took her third deep calming breath.

"I need to talk to you"

Andre to his credit didn't say anything, he just opened the door and feeling calmer Tori slipped through it into what she knew was her last remaining safe spot.

* * *

 **Next Chapter-Tori's court case builds as subpoena's are handed out. Tori and Andre have a conversation that might give out some hope for the future and Trina eventually gets to Jack Broker to ask him about his connection to Ryder and receives some information that might change everything.**

 **And let me know what you think. **


	14. To Wish Impossible Things

**Hi, so here is another chapter, i do hope i can get another one posted soon. With six chapters left in this story the trial is gonna dominate the next few chapters. So enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **And i have taken some liberties with Andre's backstory and Jack Broker the rest of it is just my own story.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 14-To Wish Impossible Things

Tori's court case build as subpoena's are handed out. Tori and Andre have a conversation that might give out some hope for the future and Trina eventually gets to Jack Broker to ask him about his connection to Ryder and receives some information that might change everything.

* * *

For a second they just stared at each other. For a long everlasting second the two of them just stared at each other. Andre took in everything, the fact that Tori was shaking slightly though that might have just been the cold. It wasn't going to be anything else unless it was fear and Andre didn't think he had it in him to let her in if she was afraid of him. He didn't think he had it him to do much these days.

"Hey" he said staring at her slightly. Tori smiled. She wasn't crying her eyes were not overbright like they had been for so long. She didn't seem to upset. In fact she seemed rather calm, which considering all she had been through was quite something Andre privately thought.

"Can I come in…please Andre I know…I know you might feel…please I just…I just need somewhere safe right now and home…" here she gave a hollow little laugh. "Home right now is gonna be a warzone"

Andre opened the door before she had even finished her sentence. He couldn't imagine a world where Tori Vega couldn't walk into his house. Thankfully his grandmother had taken her night-time medicine and that had knocked her out. There was a reason that his schoolwork was rather good and that was because anything that didn't involve music didn't involve shouting.

Tori moved so she was sitting on his couch and curled her legs up around her.

"My Mom doesn't want me to press charges against Ryder" she said finally. Andre moved to the kitchen to put the kettle on and felt his hands instinctually curl into fists.

"Why?" he asked.

Tori shrugged her hand now playing with her shortened hair. She took a deep breath as Andre dropped two teabags into the mugs and poured the water. Tea was something that he didn't drink much but he didn't think this time of night, nor the state that Tori was in required much caffeine. He handed the mug to Tori who immediately dumped two sugars and milk into the brown liquid. Andre watched her for a second but before he could even ask she began talking again.

"Ryder's mom spoke to her. She thinks that it was just a simple misunderstanding-that the prosecutor will rake me over the coals for the scene I made at the showcase and that either way my chances in this industry are fucked."

"Fuck" Andre said back feeling anger curling in his stomach. He had been trying…and he had been trying…to keep the anger at bay while Tori's trial was beginning-hell the last thing that she needed was him going off one a fist-fuelled bender no matter what he wanted to do.

"I knew it was gonna be difficult Andre…I…I knew she wasn't gonna be up for a trial, she's never really liked drama unless she's causing it it's where Trina get's it from but…she's my Mom Andre. I wanted her to be on my side" She laughed over another sip of tea. "Stupid isn't it?"

"No" Andre said without any kind of hesitation.

"No that's not stupid and don't think it is. She's your Mom. She should defend you, she should be on your side that's what mother's do. God knows If I had the chance to see mine again I know she'd fight tooth and nail for me"

Tori stared at him for a second. "What happened to your Mom?" she asked finally. "I know Beck knows but…I'm sorry I don't mean to pry"

"No" Andre said finally after a pause and a brief rummage around the more painful memories of his past. "Your not prying" God knows there was nothing that he could deny this woman he had learnt that a year ago.

"My Mom was young, like high school young when she had me. But she made it work, the three of us, me, my mom and my grandmother lived here in this house for seven years. She dropped out of college and got a job…it was her that taught me how to play music. Beck knows because he came from Canada around the same time. He can't really play but he could act and he could write, could do it when we were kids really well. My mom was killed by a drunk driver when I was seven. My Grandma….well you've met her Tori…even before she got sick she was never the same after that. She tried but…Beck knows because he was there but he never told anyone, I don't think even Jade knows which is saying something considering the man's so far gone on her he'd sell his soul for her safety"

Tori stared at him with those damn dark eyes of her and then when she spoke it was with a softer tone than he had ever heard her use before.

"I'm sorry Andre…what happened to your Dad?"

"Never knew him. Fucked off when he could and good riddance to him. I turned out fine on my own didn't I?"

Tori smiled and it was a genuine smile this time. It was like the old Tori was peeping through the dark shell that Ryder Daniels had left in his wake.

"Andre, do you think I'm doing the right thing by testifying? Because all I see is Jade and Beck falling apart, my family in pieces and no guarantee that he will be convicted. And then what? He's going to come back to school like nothing has happened? How the hell I am I supposed to go back to Hollywood Arts and sit in Music Class with him and pretend that he didn't rape me?"

"I think you are doing the right thing" Andre said over his tea. "Tori he was gonna come back weather or not you pressed charges anyway-at least this way you got a fighting chance of getting him out of your life. Besides he wont wanna come back to this school, you underestimate how many people are on your side. Nearly every woman in Hollywood Arts knows what a leach Ryder is the way he treats women has been an open secret for at least the last year, his parents have money and he has popularity that's the only reason he got away with it. Besides even the football team don't want to take the side of someone accused of rape not when half of them are skirt-chasers as it is. Either way Ryder's finished at Hollywood Arts he probably knew that after you sang your song. You didn't just humiliate him you finished him. The best thing you can do is make sure that he never gets a chance to do this to any other girl again"

Tori put her mug down. "That's a lot of pressure on me" was all she said. "And I never wanted that on me Andre. I never wanted that pressure"

"I know baby I know"

Tori snorted once without amusement. "You stopped looking at me" was all she said. Andre frowned. "Huh" was all he could say because he honestly didn't know what the woman was on about. Tori turned to look at him and this time her eyes were filled with tears and it was like a punch to the gut.

"You stopped looking at me. You used to look at me like I was the only person in the room and…I know I did some stupid stuff Andre, like Ryder and Danny and…I just…I wanted to take it slow. Hell Danny took a lot out of me and I was just finding my feet and I…I never wanted you to stop looking at me but you did and…I don't want you to think that I was…that I am…disgusting or damaged or broken because I swear to you Andre that would finish me."

She had not so much as finished the sentence before Andre had reached out and touched her chin so that she was looking at him.

"I never thought you were broken Tori, I just hated myself for not knowing what he would do. Still do actually. I should have known what the hell he was capable of when I spoke to all of those girls and never asked why they never came forward with the harassment and the bullying and the using that Ryder did. He might not have raped them but he made damn sure they knew they didn't have any other option but to keep quiet. And I should have seen that. But _God_ woman I never thought that you were the problem, I never did, I never will"

Tori stared at him for a second and then nodded blinking rapidly. Andre decided to slide his arm around her and instead of flinching away she leaned closer so they were on his couch clutching each other as if the world was going to rip them away.

"Andre" Tori said finally. "Do you mind if I spend the night here, I don't want to go home"

"You know you can" was all Andre said. "And you know I'm always gonna wait right? I know your not ready but…I am always gonna be here for when you are?"

Tori buried her face in his chest and Andre took that as all the acknowledgement he was going to get. He reached with one hand for the blanket strewn over the couch before he fell asleep.

* * *

Trina had not waited in the house for long. She had given it an hour before she received a text from her sister that she was safe and with Andre (big surprise) and then she had left her still arguing parents at it while she went to the coffee shop that she knew that Jack Broker worked at and waited patiently for him to come on his shift. Enough was enough, she was going to get some god-damn answers.

Jack saw her and rolled his eyes.

"Damn Vega you are like a dog with a bone, coffee?"

"Black two sugars and skimmed milk and don't think I don't know the difference also what the hell did you mean when you implied that there were other girls that Ryder had raped"

Jack looked around. "You wanna shout that any louder?"

"Oh I can go louder if I want Broker, this is my baby sister were talking about, this is her trial and if the text message I got from Robbie tells me anything subpoena's are already being handed out to everyone she's ever known so you are gonna tell me what I want to know and I don't plan on moving from this spot until you do."

Jack stared at her for a what seemed like five minutes and then snorted once.

"Yeah alright I believe you Christ they weren't kidding when they said that you were dramatic…alright you wanna know? Fine I'll tell you and then you can fuck off and leave me alone to finish my work and we can have this conversation at school tomorrow where you no doubt corner me for more information" He didn't allow her the chance to say anything but just carried on into his story. It seemed like he had been wanting to say this for years Trina thought watching him.

"Hypothetically let's say that I had a sister like you did, let's say she was a great dancer, let's say she was the only person in my life who understood me. My big sister." He took a deep breath and then carried on.

"And let's say that she was raped by Ryder Daniels and she told me. Let's say she said it in my suicide note that he had raped her and she couldn't stand it anymore cause our pathetic principal at the time rolled over to Ryder's rich parents"

"Jack…" for once Trina didn't know what to say. She was so appalled she couldn't speak.

Jack nodded his blue eyes overbright. "Yeah well…I don't know if there are more girls, I know of one girl and she's dead Vega so she cannot testify and I know that it cannot be mentioned at trial. I'm sorry Trina believe me if I could help your sister I would but I can't" his hand came out and curled around hers and Trina found herself gripping back with the same desire for whatever it was that was keeping the two of them together. Revenge? Anger? Desire? Who knew.

Jack let go of her hand when he passed her, her coffee and Trina took it and did what he asked and walked back to her car. It was only when she locked the door did she realised that she was shaking and it was a long time before she pulled herself together long enough to drive back to her warzone home and to the white envelope telling her that she was due in court to testify for the People Vs Ryder Daniels.

* * *

 **Next Chapter-Jade and Beck's impasse reaches a dramatic conclusion as the former is called to the stand and the boys and Trina try to get Jack Broker to release his file on Ryder Daniels.**

 **Please let me know what you think. Hopefully there will be another chapter after this. Enjoy. **


	15. The Girl I Love

**Hi, so here is another chapter and with the posting of this chapter i can confirm that i have only five more chapters of this story left to publish.**

 **This chapter ties in the Beck and Jade relationship and the struggle that they went through. I wanted to explore both of their feelings of powerless. There both pretty strong characters and i wanted to show what it was like for both of them to stand on the side-lines and watch what was happening.**

 **Also i did skip over a lot of questions simply because i wanted to focus on the mental stress Jade was under rather than having her dragged through the mud loads of times by the Defence attorney. Also i do not live in America and therefore i don't know how the legal system works so if there is any inaccuracy to the details then i do apologise.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just this little plot.**

 **Please read and review.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 15-The Girl I Love

Jade and Beck's impasse reaches a dramatic conclusion as the former is called to the stand and the boys and Trina try to get Jack Broker to release his files on Ryder Daniels.

* * *

Five days later after Trina's collapse in the car after Jack Broker's confession (and after Holly Vega moved out of the family home) Jade West woke up to see the sun shining, the birds chirping and her court outfit hanging of the side of her bathroom door. The day was nothing like Jade wanted it to be. She wanted it to be cloudy and overcast in the perfect match to her mood but it wasn't.

She spent a long time in the shower scrubbing her hair clean and her skin until it was red and the steam was clouding up the mirror. She used nearly all of her rose body wash which had been a gift from Beck and then she scrubbed her hair some more. Coming out of the shower she blow-dried her hair and curled it so it framed her face in a gentler way rather than the way she usually kept it. After several minutes debating mentally in the mirror she decided to leave out both her eyebrow and nose ring and she refrained from using to dark an eyeshadow. Everything today depended on her. She was the only one that was being called onto the stand today and the opening for Tori's case was resting on her.

She dressed in a mid-thigh dark pencil skirt with a slit up the back. It was something she had never worn before and she had ordered it especially online. She put on her bra and reached for her shirt which was long sleeved and dark green with loose sleeves and tighter cuffs. It had a bateau neckline and was looser around the shoulders. Again, it was ordered specifically for the trial and quite frankly Jade planned to ditch the entire outfit as soon as the trial was over regardless of the verdict. Finally, there was a dark suit jacket that she wore, tights and her higher black combat boots.

Looking at herself in the mirror she decided to tie her brown hair in a loose knot at the nape of her neck. She looked younger, more approachable and while it might not be her usual look, Jade looked at herself and then sighed. Today was not the day to be the scary girl who shouted at everyone and twirled her sisters around and wore streaks in her hair. Today was the day to appear as a friend to a girl who had been raped. Today was the day when she had to appear as an normal teenager and if that meant dressing normally and reducing her make up then for Tori, for justice for her friend she would do just that.

She sat down over her coffee and the small piece of toast that she was forcing herself to eat. Already she was tired. Jamie Sanfino had warned her she was going to be grilled by the defence. She knew Ryder's family had hired the best money could buy. But she wasn't afraid. God knows Jade was not afraid of her life being dragged apart by a defence lawyer. But she was worried…genuinely worried about what was going to happen after she got down from that stand and she had to go home.

Beck and her, had not really talked since she had confessed her role in Tori's rape and the aftermath and he had not offered her a lift to the trial. Instead David Vega had offered her a lift and she could only hope that Beck was there at the trial. She wanted…no she needed her boyfriend to be there when she was called to give evidence and she found that she wanted to talk to him, but she didn't know how. If Ryder Daniels managed to ruin the best thing she had ever had then she was personally going to hunt him down and kill him herself.

David Vega knocked on the door at nine AM sharp. Jade took one look at herself in the mirror and then locked up her house shrugging on her jacket. Her Dad was still in Japan on a business trip and her mother…well…her Mom had not been around for quite some time.

David Vega smiled at her when she slid into the car and Jade tried to smile back. She had heard from Robbie who had gotten it from Cat who had gotten it from…well…she supposed Trina, that the Vega's marriage was on the rocks since Mrs Vega had decided that a trial was not in her daughter's best interest and that Tori's mom was spending the night at a hotel and it was not voluntary.

"Thank you for giving me a lift Detective Vega" Jade said finally. David Vega nodded smiling. "Don't worry about it Jade" he said smiling and somehow it was enough to put Jade at ease. "I didn't want you driving on a day like today"

Jade nodded. "How is Tori?" she asked finally. David Vega gave a little sigh. "She's spending the day with Andre. He showed up this morning with the boxset of NCIS and they were spending the day watching Tony and Ziva dance around each other"

Jade smiled looking down at her hands.

"Jade look" David said as they pulled onto the road heading to the courthouse.

"All you have to do is tell the truth. The defence is gonna grill you over your own life that's to be expected. But if you keep your cool and pretend like what they say is not getting to you then I promise you it will look better than arguing does to the jury"

"Ryder's gonna be sat there" Jade said finally. David nodded. "But he cannot talk to you and he cannot go near you Jade. As soon as the prosecutor is done the defence start, even if there's a recess I promise you in no way will you be left alone with either him or his parents"

Jade nodded.

David Vega took her up the courtroom steps and into a room. He patted her on the arm and then left her and Jade paced around the room her hands shaking in the folds of her jacket.

Finally after what felt like an age but was probably only an hour there was a knock on the door. It was a court officer who gestured with his hand that she was to come with her. She took a deep breath and followed him and he stopped when he got to the door.

"I say this to everyone but I got a daughter your age so I mean it more" the officer said smiling. "Hang in there"

Jade nodded and then the doors to the courtroom were opened and she had to walk down the isle alone.

Only she wasn't alone.

Because Beck was in the isle to the right and it was him that stopped her head. He winked at her and that gave her the courage to walk forwards and take her seat in the dock, to take the oath and put her hand on the bible. Jamie had given her a glass of water and she took a sip of it trying to remain calm. Today was not the day to be angry or vicious. She noted with a sense of relaxation that Robbie and Cat were also there and both smiled when they saw her.

Jade didn't mean to but she peeped at Ryder under her eyelashes. She took in his expensive suit, the expensive female lawyer decked out in Armani and when he caught her looking he winked in her direction. Swallowed down the longing to throw the glass of water in his direction she turned to face the jury and then finally Jamie Sanfino who stood up, did up his suit and smiled.

"Hello Miss West. Can you tell the court in your own words what happened the night that Tori Vega was raped?" Jade took a deep breathe, caught Beck's eye and then began to talk.

"I received a phone call from Tori telling me to come and meet her. She said she was at her house and that she needed me. I could tell she was upset"

"How" Jamie interrupted. Jade took a breath. "She was crying over the phone, she was upset. Tori's not the type to cry easily so I knew it was serious. I drove over and she was crying in the middle of her living room. She was half naked. She was…she wasn't wearing a shirt and her bra was ripped, the whole room stunk of tequila and there was glass all over the floor. I knew something terrible had happened and then she told me that Ryder had been by and he had raped her"

She looked to the side and caught Beck's eye. He nodded again and she swallowed taking another mouthful of water. Jamie looked down no doubt at the sheets of questions he wanted to ask her but Jade was ready now. Now she had gotten over the events of that night she found that she could handle whatever came next.

Jamie asked her about the police and Jade explained that Tori had not wanted to go to them. She explained about the night Ryder came by and threatened both of them and she explained that that had led to Trina finding out.

"I know I should have encouraged her to go to the police but I knew if I pushed it too hard she would shut down and I thought it was better that I support her as friend rather than push her to do something she was obviously uncomfortable with"

Jamie nodded and with a simple thank you turned the case over to the defence. Jade took a deep breath. Make or break this was it.

"Miss West. You and Miss Vega have not always been friends have you not?"

Jade swallowed she knew this question was going to come up.

"In the beginning we were not. Now we are. We understood each other. We are both alike in a way I suppose"

"You both have quite the history with men" the Defence council said. Jade gritted her teeth. "Go ahead and shame me as some sort of mean girl who doesn't care" she said calmly. "I know what I know. I saw what I saw and I know your client" she sneered around the words. "I know he raped Tori. I know it and so does everyone else. So go ahead and ask me whatever you want about my private life. Whatever I am or whatever I've said or done doesn't distract from the truth"

And all she could see was her boyfriend smile.

It was like being stripped naked and prodded with sticks Jade thought once it was all over. She had shaky knees when she was able to get off the stand. The defence had painted her as a mean bitch jealous of Tori's talent and had brought up the fact that she had been worried Tori would take Beck which in truth she hadn't really been-not really, they had not implied that Jade had lied about anything only that she was not the sort of person who would do anything for another girl least of all Tori Vega without something being in it for her. She had not broken down but she felt damn close to it and the fact that Ryder had spent the entire time looking at her made her feel dirty and in need of a very hot shower and a very strong drink.

She was taken to the same room while one of the detectives was brought forwards and she sat there until Jamie popped his head round at lunchtime and told her she was finally able to go home.

"Don't worry about what the defence said Jade" he said patting her on the hand. "You did brilliantly."

Jade didn't think so but she was too drained to speak. Instead she nodded took ten steps outside the door and fell into Beck's arms.

"You did brilliantly" He whispered into her hair. "Just what I expected from the girl I love. From the girl I will always love and from the only girl I have ever loved."

And Jade couldn't say anything-she just hugged him back with enough strength to probably crush his ribs.

* * *

Robbie had come out of the courtroom to see Trina waiting for him. She was not allowed in court due to her own testimony later in the week and she was clearly annoyed.

"Drive" she said opening the door. "Were going to Jack Broker's house"

Robbie did what she said only because Cat looked thrilled at an adventure and Trina looked as if she would murder him if he refused.

Jack Broker did not look pleased to see them.

"I'm not giving you that damn file Vega." He said upon seeing Trina. "It will get the whole case thrown out."

"Not if I say an anonymous person dropped it off at my house. And if you think Broker I am not prepared to lie for my sister then your wrong. I too want that bastard to pay." There was something in her voice that Robbie had never heard before-a sincerity that Trina was not best known for. It appeared to strike a cord with Jack too because he looked at her for a long time.

"Alright. But i swear to you Vega if i lose my home over this i will personally ensure that you live to regret it" he said and then reached behind him and handed over a file. It was long and thin and Trina took it like it was gold nodding her head with something akin to both understanding and desperation.

And then she kissed him.

It was gentle and Robbie curled one arm around Cat who was occupied staring at the orange flowers because it felt like he was intruding on a moment between two people who had only wanted to ever do what was right by their sibling. Robbie was an only child, Rex had always been his brother and in some ways his friend and he had no idea what was going on here but he knew enough to know it was serious.

"What was all that about?" he asked quietly to Trina once they were back in the car. Trina gave a smile like the cat who had just gotten golden cream.

"Trina" Cat said suddenly "What's in that file?"

"This Cat" Trina said with supreme satisfaction. "Is what's going to help us nail Ryder Daniels"

* * *

 **And there we go i hope you liked it.**

 **Next Chapter-The Trial continues as Trina is put on the stand and finds a spotlight on her that for once she doesn't want or like. Tori prepares for her testimony and Trina and Jack Broker make a decision that they both might live to regret. **


	16. Hard Liquor

**Hi, so here is another chapter. I know i said i wouldn't be able to do another update before i go away but i have and here is another chapter but this is going to be the last one before i am cut of from WiFi for a couple of weeks.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine**

 **Please Read and Review**

 **This concludes the Trina/OC storyline that started a couple of chapters back the reminding four chapters will focus on Tori and Andre. Also i know i skipped over trial questions again but the next chapter will be filled with trial questions. Again i do not know very much about the American justice system so any inaccuracies i do apologise for and please remember that this is fiction.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 16-Hard Liquor.

The trial continues as Trina is put on the stand and finds a spotlight on her that for once she doesn't want or like. Tori prepares for her testimony and Trina and Jack Broker make a decision that they both might live to regret. Entire chapter is from Trina's point of view but concludes her separate storyline.

* * *

You never knew what day was going to change your life Trina Vega thought to herself as she shifted under the sheet. She hadn't known today was going to change her life. She hadn't known that when she had knocked on the door. She had barely known where she was going.

But here she was sweaty and aching in a good way and so tired and so ready to smile. It was almost like being born anew.

And it only seemed to take the one of the worst days of her life to bring out what she imagined would be one of the best.

The day after Jade had been grilled on the stand Trina deposited the file that Jack had given her at the office of Jamie Sanfino. She didn't care if she was caught on camera though she suspected that she wasn't. She wasn't going to lie but when her Dad told them over dinner that night that ADA Sanfino had asked for a continuous so he could examine new evidence she had to bite her lip and drop her head down to her plate so her sister or her father couldn't see her smile and know instantly that she had something to do with it.

"What kind of evidence Dad?" she asked as she looked up having gotten herself under control. Tori was still picking at her pasta with a kind of disinterest look but Trina knew that she was listening, that a part of her sister had registered that this was important and she reached out so their shoulders were brushing in some kind of support. Their Dad paused as if he was thinking long and hard about what he was going to say. Trina noticed his eyes which had gone softer were firmly fixed upon his youngest daughter.

"Someone dropped of a file at ADA Sanfino's place and it contained information that Ryder Daniels might have raped at least two other girls."

Trina did choke on her soda this time. She knew about Jack's sister but she did not know that there was confirmation of another girl. She wiped her mouth on her napkin as Tori watched her father with a confused frown.

"Can they testify?" she asked and her voice was so small that Trina couldn't help but sling an arm around her little sister. Their Dad smiled again and then paused as if he was trying to find the right words.

"Well theirs one from last year who they think might. Her name is Allison Webb"

"I remember her" Trina said suddenly. It was if a black and white memory was being played in her mind and she could see last year in more detail.

"She was hear one minute and she was gone the next I remember. She did date Ryder during the big dance competition last year, but I remember she had to pull out due to a family thing. Are you saying he raped her because he got a bad grade?"

Her Dad didn't say anything, but the implication was clear. Trina leaned back in her seat breathing hard. Suddenly she knew what was coming next and she felt her stomach clench whenever she thought about it.

"And the other girl?" Tori asked quietly.

"The other girl…the other girl is dead darling" her Dad said very softly. "She killed herself a year ago"

Trina closed her eyes as Tori leaned back in her seat and when she opened them she tried to focus on the stuff that she knew to be true like the way the pasta was on her plate, the way that her Dad had cooked for them and how they had sat at the table like a normal family. The problem was that there were obviously things wrong with this picture more so than the information that had been given to them tonight, more so than that look in Jack's eye whenever he talked about what Ryder had cost him. Their mom was missing, their parents separated and the gulf between them too wide for it to close-or so Trina thought. To be honest she had no idea how she was going to forgive her mom for doubting Tori so she had no idea how her Dad or her sister were going to do it.

Thank God for her father she thought looking at him. He looked exhausted and drained and sad but he was still here and more importantly he was still on their side which was more than could be said for their mother who was still trying to call them and talk to them even though Trina really did not want to talk to her. Instead she decided to turn back to her pasta and poke at it in her fork for a second.

"Can they use it in court?" she asked finally. "Even if they don't know where it came from"

"ADA Sanfino is finding out now. They might not be able to use the dead girl, but they can use Allison Webb"

Well…that was something at least.

* * *

The next day Trina woke up and nearly threw up. She was suddenly aware that today was the day that she was going to court. She tried knocking on her sister's door but like with Jade's testimony it seemed like her sister was locking herself away in her room and pretending that various aspects of her life were not being dragged on trial. There was a pause where she stood outside the door for a second leaning her head against the door as if she could see inside the room to where her sister was struggling and then she pulled herself together and moved slowly back to her room to begin the long and arduous task of pretending that her heart was thumping and breaking at the same time with a deadly combination of fear and heartbreak.

She dressed in a nice dark purple skirt and a white jumper with pearls sown in on the cuffs. She had heard from Cat that Jade had turned up in black but she wasn't going to do that. Trina had always been about colours. She tied her hair back off her face and did her make up and then she was in the car. Robbie had agreed to give her a lift to save her Dad some time and also because she suspected he didn't want to leave Tori alone. Trina went through the goodbyes rather methodically sliding into the car and feeling older than she had done in a long time.

Robbie passed her a plastic cup and she took a gulp of it before she recognised the sweet taste of a non-fat caramel latte with extra syrup.

"Jack Broker" was all Robbie said and Trina looked down and saw that scrawled on the side of the cup there was a 'Good Luck' and a kiss next to it. She had to blink rather rapidly least Robbie see her crying or worse…she lost control of her tightly wound emotions and she ended up a hysterical wreak in his car while he attempted to give her comfort. That was something that neither she nor Robbie needed to go through.

Robbie patted her on the knee and the touch was enough for Trina to turn and glare at him with enough force that he dropped it immediately. She turned around to stare out the window and had to supress a grin. Somethings she thought would never change.

ADA Sanfino was waiting for her outside the courtroom. He was going to take her personally to the waiting room and Trina knew instinctually that he was going to escort her because her Dad had been worried that she might have ran into either Ryder Daniels or right now what could be considered another terrible option…her Mom.

"Before we go in can I ask you something?" Trina asked. ADA Sanfino turned around to smile at her, but Trina took a second to breathe in and out. This was the greatest gamble that she had taken so far and she needed to know if it was going to pay off.

"I heard that you found another girl. Is she going to testify?"

ADA Sanfino sighed against the door. "There is no secret amongst cops is there? Yeah, we found another girl Trina and yeah, I can get her on the stand. But this is ultimately a he said she said and a lot of it is going to depend on your sister"

Trina nodded and turned to walk into the room and then she stepped backwards as she heard someone call her name. It was the ADA again.

"Trina…I don't want to know anything that will get this case thrown out but don't think I don't know about the girl that committed suicide. Hypothetically of course, in fact this entire conversation is hypothetical and of course never happened because if it did then both of us know that a serial rapist would go free. Don't think that I don't know what it must have cost him to talk about his sister. He's been living with me for more than a year and he's never mentioned half of what was in that file. He must like you"

"Is it not…" she wanted to ask if him knowing was a conflict of interest, but she didn't want to say anything that might get the case tossed out. instead she bit her lip and Jamie smiled at her for the briefest of seconds coming closer so that nobody could overhear them.

"He takes his mother's last name. She took his father. And what with being dead, she doesn't get mentioned, it's all hearsay. But I wont lose him Miss Vega…so please keep that in mind if I cannot pull of the verdict that you want"

Trina nodded and shut the door behind her leaning against the wood and taking a deep breath. She didn't think any of what had been said could get anyone in trouble, she didn't even know Jack Broker well enough for this feeling to be rising inside her, this panic that she was betraying her sister by allowing this whole thing to be put on the line because she wanted so desperately for Jack Broker with his big blue eyes to have some closure.

There was a knock at the door and Trina forced herself to take in a deep breath before she ruined this entire thing by falling to pieces and letting the guilt and confusion and pain show on her face. She tucked a strand of her hair back and nodded to herself. She could do this.

* * *

The prosecution was easy in a bizarre way. Jamie asked her what she knew about the rape, when she knew it, about Ryder's temper and what she had witnessed from him and then he had asked her about what she knew about Allison Webb. Trina answered as best she could and ignored the table where the man she so longed to choke the life out of her was sitting.

Instead she addressed the jury and perhaps it was that that distracted her because she knew that if she had seen her mother slip into the courtroom then she would probably struggle to keep her composure as she explained how she had seen the light leave her sister's eyes.

The defence didn't ask her about Allison Webb. They didn't even ask her about her mother which was strange because Trina had honestly prepared to answer questions about that. Instead they asked her about weather or not she was jealous of her sister.

And then suddenly Trina could see where this line of questioning was going. They were going to make out that she was lying so that she could surround herself around the 'fame' that her sister was getting.

And once she knew where the questions were going, then she knew exactly how she could answer them, and she found that she wasn't afraid of them anymore.

* * *

She left the courtroom not convinced that she had done much good. She swallowed as she bowed her head and walked into the bathroom looking at herself in the mirror. She had to think and yet she didn't want to think at all. She wanted something real…someone to look at her the way Andre Harris looked at her sister, someone who drank her in the way Robbie did Cat. Someone who knew her and loved her despite of it the way Beck did Jade.

"Jack" she said to herself. "Jack"

* * *

Jack turned her as she caught her breath. Two vigorous rounds of sex and she was out of breath clutching him as if he was going to disappear. He brushed some hair out of her eyes as she opened her body again so he could climb on top of her and rest his head next to hers. He looked just as at peace as she felt and she wondered if she would have ever seen him for what he was if he had not sought her out only three weeks ago.

"Don't overthink this Trina" he said tiredly. "I can hear it from here. If your going to think then think lovely thoughts but don't ruin this…please…"

He reached out from under his bed one arm still brushing away bits of her hair and pulled from under his bed the bottle of tequila. "Drink?" he asked and she wondered how many nights he had laid in this bed thinking of his sister and how he was going to go to school with her rapist having been let down by so many people who were supposed to protect him.

Was it any wonder that he kept a flask of hard liquor on him for whenever he needed the urge?

She reached out and threw the bottle to the side of the bed. She never wanted to see hard liquor like that again. Instead she reached out and pulled his face closer so she could see every flicker of blue in those eyes.

"Don't break my heart" she said finally though she didn't understand why. Jack smiled without humour. "I'd say the same sweetheart but it's already broken. So how about you don't break what's left"

Trina nodded and rested her head on Jack's pillow trying not to think of how overcomplicated everything was when she knew the biggest fight her baby sister would ever have to go through was looming and here she was safe in someone's arms, someone who understood what it was to love someone and feel powerless to help them. She closed her eyes and for the first time since this nightmare began she slept without seeing the battered look in her sister's eyes, the smugness on Ryder's the closed off expression Jade had been adopting, of the defeated look on her father's face when he looked at her mother and choose his children over a twenty year marriage and if she cried a little onto Jack's chest then he didn't pull her up on it.

Rather he sat there and held her as they both thought over what they had loved and lost and what they still had to gain if they were prepared to fight for it together.

* * *

 **And there we go enjoy. With any luck i will be able to update as soon as i am back.**

 **Next Chapter-Tori finally takes the stand to face Ryder in the People vs Ryder Daniels. Ryder does the same and hard questions are brought up leading to two different stories being told for anyone to believe.**

 **And let me know what you think. As of now there are only four more chapters left to write and then this story is at an end so...Enjoy. **


	17. A Misunderstanding

**Hi, so here is another chapter, this one deals with Tori and Ryder's trial. I choose to skip over the dialogue and focus more on the emotions and also you get a point of view that when i started this chapter so...**

 **Three more chapters left of this story and again as i have stated in other chapters i do not know much about the legal system so i apologise for any inaccuracies.**

 **Trigger Warnings as always**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 17-'A Misunderstanding'

Tori finally takes the stand against Ryder in the People vs Ryder Daniels. Ryder does the same and harsh questions are asked and brought up leading to two different stories being told for twelve ordinary people to believe.

* * *

The following week was for Tori Vega, the week where her very life would be decided by twelve ordinary people. There had been rumours in the works about pulling Allison Webb the only other rape victim of Ryder Daniels that was alive to the stand but neither she nor Jamie Sanfino had told her that she was testifying. Her sister had staggered in one night after her testimony with cigarette smoke in her hair and covered in sweat with her hair so messed up that Tori didn't need the somewhat furtive guilty look she sent her to know that she was seeing a man and she already knew who it was because Jack Broker cig hanging from his mouth was leaning outside the car looking very much like a blonde Danny Zuko from Grease complete with the slouching posture-had waited until she had gone in and the car (and the heavy make out session in it) had been under Tori's window and directly in her line of sight.

Her mother was still at a hotel. Her father had gone and seen her only one and that had been under much protest from her Mom Tori knew because Trina had argued with their father about it and had then slammed the door to the bathroom with such a ferocity it rattled off it's hinges. There had been no discussion about lawyers…the word divorce had not even been mentioned but Tori had gone into her parents room one day and had noted all of her Mom's stuff was gone off the shelves, her books, her perfume and she found that for once she could not feel guilty about it. She could feel guilty about many things but she could not feel guilty about her parents splitting up.

They had been on the edge for so long that Tori knew her parents marriage-such as it was-had been over for a long time. There was no real closeness in them anymore. This might have been the tipping point of that she knew but they had fallen out of love with each other years ago and for that Tori could claim no responsibility.

Instead she decided to focus all of her attention on the upcoming trial. She had tried to remember and then tried to not remember whenever it had gotten too much-all that had happened, the nights where she had sat and remembered clashing with the nights the pure golden nights where she had found herself asleep and more than not even when she did not want to admit it to herself she found that she had been with Andre.

Andre had been like a god send the past week or so. Tori had either spent the day with him or the night depending and she found that she didn't think about Ryder, the rapidly ending trial or anything else really when she was with him. He didn't say much he would just load something on Netflix and remain completely still while she placed herself around him and then only when she had settled down into his arms would he curl his two arms around her as if he could protect her from the world.

And more than once she found her breathing evening out and her eyes drifting closed. Andre never so much as shifted, he always let her say whatever she wanted to say first, he never so much as gave a whimper that he was in an uncomfortable position. It was only when Tori would wake up the screen of the TV blank and Andre's arms still wrapped her around that she remembered that she was still a human being, still a woman, still capable of loving and being with a man and not feeling fear-and she didn't think of Ryder's leering smile when he looked down at her or the stench of him or his hands.

It was the little moments like these that had kept her sane and had kept her going and Andre was still sat on the bed reading from his English Lit book when she got out of the shower dark hair sticking to her collarbone and her outfit that would determine what felt like the rest of her life hanging over the edge of the chair. Andre's silence was oddly comforting but today it put her teeth on edge.

"Are you gonna be there?" she asked not looking at him as she finished brushing her hair that she had dried in the bathroom. Jade had convinced her that now it was short she might try shorter curls and she was rather pleased with the effect. Jade had a good eye for confidence inducing stuff as well as the kind of eye that would tear down confidence.

"Course I am babe" Andre said in that calm tone he had adopted. "Beck's gonna be on my other side though and your Dad's gonna be in the room so I imagine someone will stop me from killing the piece of shit before he gets on the stand and tries to explain away what he did to you" he said all of this in a rather matter of fact tone that made Tori smile to herself even though the words were not funny. All that mattered was that he was going to be there. She couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The goodness of the situation was that she would not be alone as she recounted the worst night of her life. The bad news was that the man she loved and all of her friends were going to be there while she recounted the worst night of her life. But she supposed dignity was something that this trial was supposed to give her back.

"What happens if he's found not guilty?" she voiced. She had not voiced the thought but she had found that late at night she was thinking upon it more and more and it scared her. She loved her school, she loved her friends and she loved the path that she had chosen for herself and for her future. She found more and more that if she did become famous then she wanted to share this story. Jade had said it long ago (or what had felt like it) that this was nothing that she should be ashamed off and later Tori had realised she was right. If she had been ashamed she would still be sat here cowering away and Ryder would be moving on to the next girl that was foolish or naïve or unknowingly talented enough to catch his attention.

Andre put down his book and looked at her his dark eyes very serious.

"He's not gonna come back to school if your worried about that" he said in that same matter of fact tone. "The whole school knows what he is, between Jack Broker's sister and Allison Webb hitting the rumour mill nobody not even the football team can doubt your story and he knows it. He'll go to another school but the genius beauty of social media ensures that everyone will know soon enough. This is LA Tori you know as well as I do that nothing stays quiet for long. Regardless of the verdict for him he's finished."

Tori picked up her eyeliner and then realised her hands were shaking. Andre stood up to come behind her and open the pot himself. Tori leaned back onto his hard chest and thanked God that she never had to re-learn safety when it came to this man.

"You just go in there and tell the truth. Look at me the whole time if you want to and then we will come home and finally get to the end of Peaky Blinders"

Tori managed a small smile. "Thank God Netflix has some obscure shows even if they are big over the pond with our British friends" she muttered as she finally managed to get her eyeliner on straight. The TV shows that they had watched might not have stayed in her brain long enough but they were a comfort when all she wanted was a distraction. Soon she hoped school, music, singing would fill that void but Tori honestly didn't know if she would ever want to sing again.

Andre smiled and kissed her on top of her head. Tori managed a small smile but it felt and looked false in the shiny mirror that was over her dressing table where her make up and perfume and Andre let his fingers ghost down her shoulders in support. Once upon a time if he had done that Tori would have shivered in glee but now she was content to lean back against him again and pray that today would suddenly be over before it had even begun.

She dressed quietly. She pulled out her court outfit and stared at it again in detail. It was a simple navy blue dress that came to her knees. It had small sleeves and she had accessorised it with Trina's old grey blazer and her nude heels. It looked…normal…to anyone else she might be a normal girl that was just going for a job interview rather than onto the stand to tell her side of the story about the night she had been raped.

"Ryder's gonna pretend that I wanted it. He's gonna say it was consensual and that I'm lying to further humiliate him after what I had done the night of the concert" she said finally her hands trembling as she picked up an earring. She knew that was what they were going to say because both her sister and Jade had dropped enough hints for her to pick up on the line of questioning that they would use and sure enough Tori was prepared for it.

Tori finally zipped her dress up and sat back at her desk. Andre stood there holding a plate of toast. "Eat" he said passing it to her and Tori forced herself to take two mouthfuls before she put the toast back onto the plate and pushed it away feeling queasy. There was a pause where she was staring at the plate and she swallowed again clamping her teeth down on her lip. There was a pause where she was stood there and then she took a deep breath.

"Ok" she said reaching for her high heeled black ankle boots and pulling them on. Andre helped her into her jacket and then he hugged her his hands sliding over her back. Tori would be surprised but she was still struggling to comprehend the events that would take place today. Andre had not reached out to touch her months in the days where they had spent hours together instead allowing her to choose what to do but now for the first time since that night he had taken charge and Tori found herself snuggling into the warmth of his chest and she swallowed trying to remember this scent and this feeling of the man that she had loved since the first moment they had gotten on stage together and remember it when she went on trial for the reminder of her future.

"Just look at me babe" Andre said into her hair one hand cupping her head.

"Just look at me while they spout their lies and I promise you I wont let you down"

* * *

Ryder went first. His expression was perfectly smooth as he took the stand though there was no way that he didn't notice the five of them sitting there. Seven and eight if you counted Trina and Jack Broker who was clutching her hand and watching Ryder with a sort of gleeful hunted expression that Andre knew was the look of a man who was finally getting the chance to get one over on his enemy. In truth Andre didn't know exactly what had happened between Ryder and Jack's sister but he had a very good idea. He wondered how it was that Jack could go to school and see the man who had destroyed his sister's life and know that he was powerless to stop it. Andre wondered how he had done it, why he had done it when it could have stopped it and then he hated himself for even thinking that because he knew Jack to be a decent man and he knew that there was probably no way he could have stopped it. The Daniels had money. Old money. Jack had barely had a roof over his head until last year.

That just made him grit his teeth tighter until Beck who was sat next to him nudged him with his knee. Andre tried to relax and remembered to breathe once or twice. The whole thing was like listening to blunt nails being raked over the chalkboard and it was taking most of his self-control not to stand up and launch himself at Ryder Daniels. He had promised Tori though that he would be there for her and he would be. He owed her that much and if that meant he had to sit and listen to this piece of scum tell lies about the woman he loved then…that was something that he would just have to do.

Ryder began by being questioned by his own lawyer. He began by explaining the sex was consensual. He painted a picture of a consensual ending to a consensual relationship. He even had an excuse for the near assault on Jade telling the jury that everyone knew Jade was into freaky stuff like that and he'd thought he could get lucky with two girls at once.

Beck stiffened next to him. Andre could feel Jade's raised eyebrows without even looking for her expression and he surprised a wild, feral kind of grin at the thought of the look the most terrifying woman he had ever met was giving the man she despised right about now.

He came across as believable, but Andre wondered just how many of the jury believed him. He was being charged with the intimidation of Jade and Trina as well as the rape and while he had a thought that perhaps it might swing Tori's way he honestly wasn't sure if it would do so with Jade and Trina. Jade by appearance and certainly by the way she kept glaring at the witness box was presenting a fabulously bitchy look. Trina was staring at the wall her hands clasped together so tightly her knuckles were turning white and even Cat was glaring at her shoes her face pressed into her angry pout that nine times out of ten never made an appearance because Cat had always been to happy to be angry.

A short recess was called and the eight of them walked out of the courtroom. Tori was being held separately with her Dad and Andre knew that he couldn't go near her before she took the stand. Jade immediately went in search of coffee and Beck hurried after her his knuckles still clenched together. Robbie said he had to go to the bathroom and Trina in a moment of what Andre was sure was concern told Cat that they should go to. Andre thought perhaps Trina wanted to get Cat alone in a room and then gently answer any questions the red headed girl might have and that left him and Jack Broker in a hallway.

"I don't know about you Harris" Broker said running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. "But I need a smoke" and with that he was off.

Andre turned and then saw it out of the corner of his eye. It was Mr and Mrs Vega having a conversation. There was something final about it that made him pause and then he reminded himself that Tori's parents were none of his business and there was nothing that he could do. Instead he followed Broker out the courtroom doors and wondered if it was possible to beg a smoke off him and break the last of his golden rules to deal with the blackest day since they had buried his mother all those years ago.

* * *

To his credit Andre had not bottled it. David Vega who was not as old and as blind to not know that there was a boy sneaking into his youngest daughters, bedroom and not tired enough to know his eldest was sneaking out had when he was not watching his daughter been watching the man that she was in love with.

Tori had answered the questions hesitantly and then she had looked at Ryder. The two had clapped eyes for a long second and David was sure Tori had lost it. The judge had politely asked her if she was ok and Tori as if the incident had never happened seemed to regain some confidence. His daughter raised her head nodded and carried on as if the damn boy wasn't there. She seemed more alive than she had done in a long time and David had no idea why.

The defence attorney called it a misunderstanding gone wrong and Tori had leaned forwards her hands curled over the edge of the box and said with so much clarity that there was no way that anyone could mishear her or claim she was making it up.

"It was not a misunderstanding. It was rape"

David had never been more prouder.

Tori came off the stand with a pensive look on her face one hand in Andre's and one in Jade West's as her sister gripped the blonde smoker who David was pretty sure had manipulated the trial a little so the best prosecutor had gotten it and the information that he needed.

Quite frankly however that was something he didn't want to know about and certainly wasn't going to loose sleep over.

"You did wonderful darling" he said hugging her close one hand in Trina's hair so both of his girls were close to him.

Tori smiled a little and David was relieved to see it was a bit more genuine than anything he had seen before.

Tori and her friends, Trina and her…boyfriend he supposed made it outside the courtroom and David saw that his wife had left. He didn't want to think about what he had seen last night when he had gone to see her. Thank God he thought that both of his girls were of an age where he didn't have to bitterly fight for custody. He wasn't sure if he had that kind of fight left.

Jamie Sanfino popped up then grinning. Carefully he didn't look at his foster son and David snorted under his breath again. "Tori that was brilliant you handled that so well. Also good news. Allison Webb has agreed to testify"

The red headed girl hugged the puppetless boy in glee. (So he couldn't remember all the names so shoot him?). Tori smiled once leaning her head against Andre. David didn't have the heart to glare at him.

"Come on" he said cracking his neck from side to side feeling the muscles ache. Once again it seemed his house was going to be a hotel lobby for the night.

"Pizza at mine for the night and if you wanna stay you can"

Trina whooped and David watched them even Jack Broker lead the way out of the courtroom to their cars. Sanfino nodded at him, his stepson and then disappeared.

He could give his girls one more night he thought. One more perfect night when they didn't have to worry or fret before he told them that he and his wife off over seventeen years had decided this morning to get a divorce.

* * *

 **And there we go hopefully i will be able to update a bit sooner know things are back to normal.**

 **Next Chapter-Allison Webb takes the stand and Tori and her mother have a confrontation as the news of the Vega's divorce hits the rumour mill. **


	18. Women Of Questionable Morals

**Hi, so here is another chapter, i rushed through this update as personally for me this was a hard chapter to write. Without getting personal i will leave this note the way it is but there are two more chapters to this story one concluding this story and an epilogue that is probably going to be the same length as the prologue at the beginning of this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just this little plot bunny.**

 **Again trigger warnings for rape and discussions of rape.**

 **And again nothing against Tori's mom but i never liked her.**

 **Please Read and Review**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 18-Women Of Questionable Morals.

Allison Webb takes the stand, Jade prepares for the worst (and the gang try to get on with their lives) and Tori and her mother have a confrontation as the news of the Vega's divorce hits the rumour mill.

* * *

The phone rang early morning and Robbie groaned hearing another groan next to him and a choice word or two from Rex who was annoyed that he was now relegated to the desk in his own bed which in reality wasn't exactly as bad as he made out.

"Rex shut up" he said reaching for his glasses. Rex's reply was not very nice and Robbie rolled his eyes reaching for his phone and nearly swearing himself when he saw that it was Jade calling. There was no hope of simply hanging up and praying she went away. Experience had taught him a long time ago that Jade West was simply too insistent for that.

He flicked the green button and pressed the phone to his ear.

"Jade it's…" he checked his watch. "Jade it's seven o clock for God sakes what the hell are you doing calling me"

"I need you and Cat to come to mine for breakfast. We need to talk all five of us about what were going to do if Ryder Daniels gets away with raping Tori" was all Jade said and that was enough to have Robbie scrambling sitting up in bed and nearly dislodging Cat who had slept over in his bed and was wearing…well…just enough so that Rex didn't cackle.

"I thought Allison Webb was going to testify today?"

"She is. Or she says she is, I say she is Robbie because so help me if that woman thinks she is skipping out on this trial I will hunt her down and personally drag her by the hair to the courtroom and—"

"Yeah Ok Jade I get it" Robbie said before Jade could really get going because experience had also taught him that when Jade went off on a rant about someone it generally lasted. There was a pause where he sat rubbing his eyes and then when he felt more awake than he had done for the last ten minutes.

"Jade why are we having a discussion about something that might not happen, that probably won't happen. Why are we not including Trina in it either? You said five of us right?"

"Trina has enough on her plate and I don't want to involve Broker. It's not that I don't trust him cause I know Andre and Beck do but I don't think that talking about weather or not his dead sister's rape is gonna come up in the trial is gonna do much good"

"And why does Trina have enough on her plate? Because only yesterday she was leading the charge. We were all there yesterday and the day before at the trial. I thought that we were gonna go and listen to Allison Webb?"

"We were but then Andre and Beck and I decided not to and I think you and Cat should do the same. Were exhausted Robbie you know it and I know it and Tori's made it perfectly clear that today she wants to be on our own and you and I both know that while we might have some extensions on deadlines due to the trial but it's not gonna last forever, I logged onto my Hollywood Arts Email Account last night and there is a lot of deadlines and homework were being sent. I don't like to say it Rob but I think we gotta start doing it"

Robbie sighed running a hand through his hair. He had been worried about the deadlines of homework that was steadily mounting as well. As well as their acting classes and singing classes and musical classes they were also taking classes in a lot of other subjects as well and nearly all of them (except Cat) were taking AP majors in at least one or two of them. They might not be seniors just yet but the year was creeping up on them and they were going to have to seriously study if they wanted to pass finals or any of their deadlines. Extensions were only going to give them so much time.

"Yeah. Look let's meet at yours then if nobody wants to go into the trial and we can do some deadlines. I'm not sure what's gonna happen but Allison Webb's story is not Tori's and I suppose we shouldn't pry on it. I'll bring Cat, some coffee and my books over and if you want we can discuss what happens if Ryder gets off but Jade you and I both saw Tori on the stand the other day, you, Trina, this girl today, it's gonna be hard for him to wriggle out of both accusations and even if by some miracle he did you and I both know Beck and Andre have something planned that's gonna involve us lying to the LAPD."

"Rob look I might be overreacting maybe but…I don't wanna go near that courtroom until my friend tells me she wants me too and I don't want to sit and listen to a girl who I barely knew who needed help and listen to how the school that I love and support with my future did nothing to help and ruined hers. It's just gonna be too painful for me. And…to be honest I wanna see Andre. I know he's putting a face on it for Tori but I don't know how angry he is or if he's coping or if he's gonna do something stupid…"

"Ok" he said sitting up and smiling as Cat turning around smiled at him through her red hair.

"Yeah well, bring Cat anyway. I know what the two of you are doing." She added rather cryptically. Robbie sighed feeling a headache coming on.

"Jade, Cat and I are not doing anything."

"Oh please Robbie she texted me last night and told me she was spending the night with you, just because your not having sex with her or even if you are doesn't mean that I don't know and to be honest I'm kinda glad. But just remember how I like my coffee and bring her when you come round today ok?"

"Hey Jade" Robbie asked before she put the phone down on him. "Why is Trina going through a lot more than usual?"

Jade gave a sigh. "I got it off Beck who got it of Broker the night before last" she said. "Mr and Mrs Vega are getting a divorce"

And with that she hung up the phone.

"Not more trouble?" Cat asked turning her head to one side. She had fallen asleep in one of Robbie's old Star Wars T-Shirt and her underwear and he could see the bright pink lace of her panties peaking out at him in the morning light jarring with his blue bedsheets.

Mercifully Rex stayed quiet.

"No" Robbie said running a hand through his hair again. "Just Jade you know"

Cat giggled. "Come on" she said climbing over him so that her body was hovering over his in a way that made his brain dissolve into liquid for a second. She held out her hand and Robbie didn't know where she was going but he knew that wherever it was he was always going to follow her.

Always.

* * *

Tori had been sat in front of the hotel room for a long time. She had gotten the number from the hotel clerk who had been too normal at this (probably used to the whole idea of a the hotel being used for affairs or parents who were divorcing or whatnot) and she had gotten to the outside of the room before she had sat down in the hallway staring and wondering if she really had the bottle to go in and confront her mother about her parent's divorce and her complete and total lack of support when it came to the most painful thing in her life.

Eventually (though in reality it was probably nothing more than half an hour of just sitting there leaning against the door of the hotel floor before she eventually pulled herself to her feet and knocked on the door. This was her Mom. This was the one person who was supposed to be on her side regardless of what was going to happen and the speech that she had so carefully crafted in her head fell out of her brain when the door opened, and she saw for the first time since her Mom had accused her of lying her mother.

"Tori" Her Mom said opening the door and ushering her in with a smile that set Tori's teeth on edge. There was something about her that didn't sit right with Tori. There was a pause where she stood taking in the surroundings. Her Mom was in a good hotel room it seemed definitely a suite and there was no doubt in Tori's mind that somehow her father was picking up the bill.

"I hear you and Dad are getting a divorce" she said by way of a preamble to a conversation that she wasn't really sure if she wanted to have.

"We are" her Mom said sitting down as if this was a conversation that needed to be had over tea. Tori blinked at her matter of fact tone but before she could say anything her Mom continued.

"I don't want you to blame yourself Tori, your Dad and I…well…we've been having problems for a long time"

"I don't blame myself" Tori said surprising herself with how quick she was with the truth. The truth was she did not blame herself even if her Dad had not the previous night told her that the events were not of her making.

"Dad told us you were having an affair with his partner Gary"

"I had a one night stand with Gary, not an affair. And nothing happened until…until you told me of your…events…Gary and I are in a relationship now but there was never anything sordid while he was supposed to watch your father's back"

Tori laughed once unable to stop herself.

"So you didn't have an affair until I told you I was raped and you didn't believe me? Well thanks Mom"

Her Mom sighed as if Tori was being difficult and Tori knew that the conversation was dead in the water before it had even started. She found that talking to her mother was tiring, she wanted to be back in her bed with Andre wrapped around her and watching things on Netflix where she was safe and life was peaceful and uncomplicated. She didn't know if she was going to shut the door on a relationship with her Mom after this conversation-she hoped not because the thought was too much to bear but she knew that it wasn't good for her to be in another room with her until these feelings disappeared.

"It's not that I don't believe you Tori it's just that I think coming forwards while in itself was brave I wont deny that might do you more damage in the long run. And if he wins this? What then? The girl I heard about the one who never came forwards killed herself, I don't want you to kill yourself because you came forwards about something that the defence called a misunderstanding."

"A…Mom he threw a bottle of tequila at me and then rapped me holding a piece of glass to my throat and you call that a misunderstanding? Do you question the morals that I grew up with that much? To think that I would lie about something like this?"

Her Mom sighed again. "No Tori it's just that I…I don't know. Maybe if things were different then…what do you want me to say? Do you want me to say that I'm sorry I had an affair? Do you want me to say that I was sorry for not taking your side even though I disagree with your reporting this crime? Do you want me to apologise for all the mistakes I've made as a mother? I mean seriously? I don't know what you want from me, I believe that you were raped but I don't think that dragging yourself through court on a case where it's basically 'He Said' 'She Said' is going to do you any good"

Tori nodded, she didn't feel upset, she didn't feel like she wanted to cry, she just felt like everything was complicated here and she wanted to go and sleep in the arms of a man who made her complicated life so deliciously uncomplicated.

"You know" she said searching for the right words to use. "I don't want to see you anymore. I don't mean…actually I do mean that. I don't want to see you, go be with Gary, go be with anyone for all I care but don't call me. Divorce Dad and leave us the fuck alone because I came here while another woman takes a stand and tells her story and like all the other women before me we don't deserve to have our stories questioned by someone who should be on our sides. But I'm gonna go back to the family that has stood by me no matter what and I don't want to see or hear from you again"

And with her head held high she walked out of the door, out of her mother's hotel room away from her mother and out of the hotel and it was only when she hit the fresh air and she felt the wind on her face did she feel like she was ok, that she was going to survive and that all the toxic feelings that had been building since the night of her assignment would one way or another release themselves when this journey or this nightmare or whatever she would later call it would slowly come to an end.

* * *

 **And there it is, i hope you enjoyed next chapter should be up here soon. **

**Next Chapter-The jury comes back with a verdict, Tori makes a decision and this story reaches it's conclusion-kind of. **


	19. Redemption Song

**Hi, so here is another chapter, this one is the final long one i think of this story. The final chapter of this story will be an epilogue and probably the same length as the prologue which started this. I hope you have enjoyed this story so far and i promise the final chapter will have a longer author's note.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **I did say this story would give Tori justice and i hope i have done that.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

 **Trigger Warnings of rape for anyone who might be triggered.**

* * *

Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 19-Redemption Song

The jury comes back with a verdict, Tori has an epiphany and this story reaches it's conclusion-kind of.

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Tori had been staring at her books when the doorbell rang. She had not touched her schoolwork since the attack had happened and while her teachers had been very accommodating she knew that regardless off the trial's outcome there was no way it was going to continue throughout the coming weeks. She had to make a decision about what she was going to do next and that decision ultimately boiled down to could she go back to school and focus on her work and her future and the path that she wanted regardless of how it went her way. The trial had to end soon and soon enough she was going to find out whether twelve ordinary people had believed her or not or weather or not she was going to become another statistic that she had looked up whenever she couldn't sleep.

She was still staring at the pile of books and then she made a decision. It was almost clinical really. She closed her eyes for a second and then she took the top book off the pile. It was her drama book and the note from Jade said that Sikowitz had asked them to memorise a scene from any Shakespeare play that they could and she turned to her books. There was a pause where she looked at the assignment titles and then she began to read.

She had decided. She was going to fight back and she was going to remain strong regardless. If she let herself drop out of school then the man that had done this would have won and she would not let that happen.

There was a pause when she looked up when the doorbell rang and she opened it not before checking who it was. She would never again open up a door without checking who was behind it. That was something that was no ingrained in her.

It was Beck. He had another stack of books in his hand and he smiled at her his sunglasses on top of his head. They had, had a surprising amount of sunshine recently and the heat was beginning to get oppressive much like the heatwave where once upon a time she had sat in her bikini and splashed around on the beach thinking she had everything to live for. She still did. That was something she had learnt when this whole trial started. She still did have everything to live for. She was a little broken and a little battered but Ryder Daniels had not defeated her nor would she let him. She was banking a lot on the jury putting him behind bars but there was also the possibility that he would be free and she would have to see him again but she also knew now that she had people who would defend her to the death.

One of them was standing there looking at her his hands full of school work as she reached her third week of extended deadlines and absentee schooling. Beck grinned at her and he touched her on the shoulder once as she opened the door to let him in and then shut and locked it behind her. Her Dad might be upstairs and he still had his service weapon and his spare weapon but Tori was not taking any chances.

There was a pause where she stood there and then Beck gently put down the books.

"Song writing class want an original song and I was told to tell you that it's non-negotiable. There's no competition or anything but…I think some teachers are beginning to want work back. Helen's doing what she can but, Mr Rankoon is also the captain of the football team and either way their gonna be looking for a new quarterback when this is over so I think the feels he can be a little tough. Or a heartless bastard whatever adjectives you wanna use.

Tori smiled and Beck smiled back.

"How's Jade?" she asked finally.

"Good" Beck said smiling. "We've been talking and I think that she's in a good place. When the semester's over she's gonna come up with me to Canada. Hey maybe everyone can come with us? Take some time to ourselves and get stuff sought out, spend some time away from the drama."

Tori nodded and then she heard the phone ring. She was about to speak to Beck and then her Dad came down the stairs. There was something in the tightness in his face that made Tori pause and even Beck look up at her Dad.

And just like that Tori knew.

"Sweetheart the jury have reached a verdict"

For a second, for an endless second she stood there and she was aware of the room spinning around her and then she turned around and sat back on the couch Beck next to her looking at her dead in the face and she tried to take a deep breath and focus on what was in front of her and not like she was about to hear about the worst decision that would ever be made for.

"Ok" she said finally as she finally forced herself to breath. This was no different than going to trial was it? Surely not?

"I'll call everyone" Beck said already reaching for his phone. "We can all get there. Thank God it's a weekend. I don't…err…I mean…we were all getting in trouble for the amount of time that we were taking off." And with that he reached for the phone and began dialling but Tori honestly could barely hear him.

She managed to breath in and then she pulled her hand through her hair. The bottom strands of her hair now reached the tops of her shoulder blades and she ran her fingers through it and then she forced herself to stand up on shaky legs and to go up the stairs and get dressed.

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Once they got to the courtroom her hands were shaking. She had changed into a black dress with a sharp square neck collar but her hands were still shaking. Andre was leaning against the wall and he held out a hand as he saw her and she took it interlacing her fingers with his. He cupped one hand over hers and she managed a small smile. The door to the ladies opened and Jade came out. Her brown hair was tied in a bun at the nape of her neck and she was wearing grey trousers and a black jumper. She linked fingers with Beck and Tori saw Cat follow her, her red hair in a high pony and in low slung jeans and a pink button down. Robbie was coming out of the men's and of course Trina in her purple dress was stood next to her, Jack Broker was stood there smelling of smoke but he offered a small smile and she realised that there was as much riding for him as there was for her. She had come forwards and she was seeking the justice that his sister had been denied. There was an understanding between the two of them that never went away regardless of how little they knew about each other.

For a second the eight of them stood there and then Tori's Dad stuck his head around the door and nodded at them and with Jade leading the charge the doors of the courtroom were open and feeling like she was walking to the gallows Tori walked through the courtroom to the bench right behind Jamie Sanfino and sat down. Andre wrapped one arm around her and all she wanted to do was lean her head on his shoulder, but she didn't. She had the feeling that if she stopped thinking that she was anything other than a woman of complete stone then she would shatter and break for the whole courtroom to see.

Jamie Sanfino flashed her a smile as they all stood when the judge walked in. Ryder did not so much as look at her and she did not so much as look at him. There was something that told her instinctually that if she looked at him as well as moved or tried to do anything then her composure would shatter completely.

The judge walked through the rest of the charges which included her and the near assault on Jade with the piece of vase the night Trina had found out about her rape. She noted that Allison Webb's rape was not amongst them and she also noted that Jack Broker's sister was not amongst them. She supposed with Jack's sister there was no woman to testify and Allison Webb might have been allowed to tell her story but considering there had been no rape kit or any physical evidence that had taken place in the immediate aftermath it had been her story and nothing else. Tori could imagine her at the back of the courtroom. She hoped she was there anyway and she was sure that she was. Either way she didn't want to look because she was so close to snapping and she wasn't sure if she could bare it.

"On the count of the assault of Jade West how do you find the defendant?" the judge asked.

"Not guilty"

Jade made a noise in the back of her throat and Tori saw out of the corner of her eye her now best friend she supposed make a move to stand up though what she was going to do Tori had no idea. Beck's hand came up to Jade's shoulder and pushed her down back into the seat one hand glued to her shoulder and one hand wrapped around his girlfriends hand. Tori swallowed harshly as the judge rearranged his papers and Andre reached out to tighten his grip on her shoulder. She felt like she was going to be sick and time seemed to slow in each and every second seemed to feel like a year.

It felt like an age until the judge spoke again.

"And on the count of the rape of Tori Vega how do you find the defendant?" there was a pause before the jury foreman spoke again and then he only had to utter the one word that would ever make any peace to Tori Vega.

"Guilty"

She might have let out a scream or a sob but she wasn't sure either way but she turned her head into Andre's chest and Tori let the tears fall that she had been bottling since this trial out. Andre turned and hugged her to him rocking her back and forth and she felt without seeing and just knowing her sister had taken her hand.

Finally she pulled back and wiped her eyes. All of her friends were there. Ryder was gone. He was never going to bother her again. He was gone.

She was free.

She had won.

She honestly couldn't describe how it felt, this little piece of justice she had received. The hurt would not be gone, the pain and the fear and the dark days but the man who had been the cause of them all was gone and it would be a long time before she would have to deal with him again.

And she was not alone.

She had her friends. Jade who had been there since the beginning, Beck who had stood by Jade when Tori had asked her to do the impossible, Cat and Robbie solid and strong in their own way. Her sister, her big sister who had proven that she was a good sister in her own way, there was so much to be said about Trina and what she had done and then there was Jack Broker who was now a part of their extended little family who was sat next to her sister looking like the rug had been pulled out from under him and he didn't know what to do with himself now that victory for his sister had been won.

And she had Andre. The man she loved, the man who loved her who had never stopped loving her and she closed her eyes a little bit more as she thought about what she was going to do next.

She was going to write her songs again, she was going to sing again and dance and act and go back to school and prove that she was no victim. She was going to try and live her life and move on. She was going to survive. Tori had never thought that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. When Jade had begged her to report Ryder she had thought what's the point. But Jade had been right and it was that that made Tori turn to her enemy turned best friend and hug her.

"Thank you for making me do this" she said finally into Jade's hair and she felt the other woman squeeze her back.

It was no small thing Tori thought. Justice. She felt Andre's hand on her back and she smiled. It was no small thing indeed.

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 **And there it is, i hope you enjoyed this and i will try and have the epilogue posted soon.**

 **Next Chapter-As this story comes to a close an epilogue shows what happened to our characters. **


	20. Epilouge

**Hi, so here it is-the final chapter, this is another short chapter as short as the first one and concludes this story.**

 **This has been a dark story for me but with a storyline i feel needs to be written about. It was a challenge but i hope that you have enjoyed this story. If this story affects ANYONE who has read it then i plead with you to call the police or speak to someone who might be able to help. What happened in this story though it is a fictional scenario does happen everyday and there are always people you can turn too. i hope i have done this subject justice and the characters justice.**

 **TRIGGER WARNINGS-as i always say for rape.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine**

 **Please read and review.**

 **I don't have any plans to retire my Victorious fandom just yet but i will be taking a break in order to get inspired so watch this space. I do have a list of stories that i have promised to write for other fandoms and therefore any requests for Victorious fandoms will be added to a list.**

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Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?

Chapter 20-Epilouge

As this story comes to a close, an epilogue shows what happened to our characters-short closing chapter.

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They say it can take a second for your live to change.

They say that before it does change you see in perfect picture clarity the events that lead you to this moment.

They say a lot of things. But until you understand this moment, until you have lived this moment, like she had done, like all of them had done then you don't have a clue.

She had said that very same thing once before when this whole nightmare had begun, when it had been her on her own, when she had gone to Jade and Beck and her friends and her sister and the towering strength that was her father. She had thought she was alone. She had been wrong of course as people in situations like this often were. She had had the support and the strength that she needed to carry this through a long time ago. Of course questions were still asked and pain was still felt (God was it still felt) but she felt like she could breathe in again and be herself.

She was Tori Vega.

She had been a statistic, she had been brutalised and she had been on the fringe. And she had fought back and she had punched back and she had won a bit of her hard-earned justice.

That had been ten months ago and for the first time since that night Tori Vega was taking the stage again.

Ryder had lost his appeal. Tori had not gone to the sentencing, Andre had because he claimed he had wanted to see the end of that man for good but she had only learnt that he had gotten over ten years and she would not see him at least for six which she supposed was a good thing. She had been numb at the time and in all honesty only now it felt like she was being born anew.

Tori looked at herself in the mirror and took a deep breath standing up and feeling the shaky leg syndrome she had been suffering all day. There was a pause where she stood there and then she started moving towards the stage. The last time she had done this there had been another person standing next to her and she had been filled with the same iron clad determination that she felt now.

Jade and Beck were still strong, it would take more than Jade lying to her boyfriend for the two of them to break up. They were stronger together than they ever were apart and even after a small separation they were like moths to a flame and they were together once more cemented in their love.

Cat and Robbie had fallen into a relationship, or perhaps it had always been there. Tori didn't know. She did know that she had not been surprised when one day Robbie had kissed Cat and instead of pulling away the red head had kissed him back with enough fervour that even Jade's eyebrows had made their way up her forehead. Rex was back but only rarely and he didn't say anything to Tori. Apparently, there were lines puppets didn't cross.

Jack Broker was now over at their house so much their Dad had begun making a fourth helping of each meal. Tori wasn't sure how much their Dad was aware of in regards to the fact that Jack was spending at least three nights in Trina's bed but he seemed to know that sometimes Andre wasn't going home and yet he didn't seem to comment on it. Perhaps he had learnt that he had didn't need to ask because he never commented on Andre still being around whenever he went to bed.

Tori brushed a hand down the side of her jeans and adjusted the microphone. Trina was happy, she was good, Broker as he still preferred to be called looked like he had had the years stripped off him with Ryder's conviction and was finally coming out of his shell. Right now he was thinking next semester of taking a music class which was practically uncalled for, for him.

Andre meanwhile, her Andre, her boyfriend would be in the audience. They were taking it slow and he never pushed her for more but Tori had for the first time in a long time, complete confidence in herself. She was going to live and she was going to sing again and she was going to stand tall and go on this stage and win back a bit of her life that she had thought lost to her forever. And Andre was a part of that. Probably the only part of that, that would always make sense.

For a second there was nothing but the man announcing her on the stage. The last time that had happened she had, had a man stood next to her and her life that afternoon had changed forever. Now she was going out and singing on her own accord and trying to close a painful chapter in her life. Maybe that was wishful thinking but she wanted to think that, that was what this closure was about.

She shuddered for a second and then took another deep breath and stepped out on the stage as the last few months came full circle.

For a second the lights blinded her, the memories blinded her and the emotions almost crippled her. And then she looked out into the audience and saw her sister, the man she loved and her friends who had stood by her. From this moment on she vowed to herself, nobody would ever say _'Did You Hear What Happened To Tori Vega?'_ and with that Tori smiled to herself, opened her mouth and began to sing.

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 **I hope that you have enjoyed this story. I want to thank you all for your kind reviews and your following and favouring of this story. Hopefully i will be back but until i am thank you for reading this story. **


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